MetLife, Inc. $MET Shares Sold by Procyon Advisors LLC

Key Points

• Procyon Advisors LLC reduced its stake in MetLife, Inc. by 93.2% in the second quarter, now holding only 2,628 shares worth approximately $211,000.
• Multiple institutional investors have recently adjusted their positions in MetLife, with significant increases from First Horizon Advisors Inc. and Ritholtz Wealth Management.
• Analysts have downgraded the target price for MetLife from $94.00 to $92.00, with an average consensus target price of $94.64 and a general rating of "Moderate Buy."

Procyon Advisors LLC cut its stake in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET - Free Report) by 93.2% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 2,628 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 36,063 shares during the period. Procyon Advisors LLC's holdings in MetLife were worth $211,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in MetLife by 7.4% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 26,488,146 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,126,734,000 after acquiring an additional 1,824,907 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in MetLife by 0.4% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,862,835 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $711,597,000 after acquiring an additional 36,177 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in MetLife by 3.6% during the first quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,406,512 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $594,410,000 after acquiring an additional 259,993 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in MetLife by 0.8% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,109,423 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $570,816,000 after acquiring an additional 57,221 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in MetLife by 3.7% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,671,435 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $535,568,000 after acquiring an additional 236,698 shares during the period. 94.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MET. Piper Sandler downgraded shares of MetLife from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $84.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Friday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of MetLife from $94.00 to $92.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of MetLife from $86.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of MetLife from $98.00 to $94.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of MetLife to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $94.64.

MetLife Trading Up 0.1%

MetLife stock traded up $0.09 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $79.16. 8,848,968 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,039,976. MetLife, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $65.21 and a fifty-two week high of $89.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $52.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.42, a PEG ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.87. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $78.30 and its 200 day simple moving average is $78.12. The company has a current ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57.

MetLife (NYSE:MET - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.32 by ($0.30). MetLife had a return on equity of 19.88% and a net margin of 5.83%.The firm had revenue of $17.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.58 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.28 earnings per share. MetLife's revenue for the quarter was down 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 EPS for the current year.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 9th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 5th were given a dividend of $0.5675 per share. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 5th. MetLife's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.47%.

MetLife Profile

MetLife, Inc, a financial services company, provides insurance, annuities, employee benefits, and asset management services worldwide. It operates through six segments: Retirement and Income Solutions; Group Benefits; Asia; Latin America; Europe, the Middle East and Africa; and MetLife Holdings. The company offers life, dental, group short-and long-term disability, individual disability, pet insurance, accidental death and dismemberment, vision, and accident and health coverages, as well as prepaid legal plans; administrative services-only arrangements to employers; and general and separate account, and synthetic guaranteed interest contracts, as well as private floating rate funding agreements.