Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. Sells 45,299 Shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lowered its position in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET - Free Report) by 31.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 99,605 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 45,299 shares during the period. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V.'s holdings in MetLife were worth $7,997,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of MetLife in the 4th quarter worth $730,716,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of MetLife by 33.7% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 24,663,239 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,019,427,000 after buying an additional 6,213,923 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of MetLife by 43.7% during the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 5,663,177 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $463,701,000 after buying an additional 1,723,461 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of MetLife by 15.7% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,052,202 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $577,434,000 after acquiring an additional 958,458 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of MetLife by 8,789.6% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 815,889 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $65,508,000 after acquiring an additional 806,711 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.99% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on MET. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on MetLife from $98.00 to $95.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on MetLife from $94.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, May 19th. UBS Group raised their price objective on MetLife from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of MetLife from $95.00 to $88.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of MetLife from $88.00 to $86.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $94.17.

MetLife Stock Performance

MET stock traded up $0.02 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $80.39. The company had a trading volume of 2,901,562 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,373,297. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a current ratio of 0.16. The firm has a market cap of $53.97 billion, a PE ratio of 13.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.86. MetLife, Inc. has a 12 month low of $65.21 and a 12 month high of $89.05. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $78.10 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $80.14.

MetLife (NYSE:MET - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.96 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $2.00 by ($0.04). MetLife had a return on equity of 20.89% and a net margin of 6.08%. The company had revenue of $18.57 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.06 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.83 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 15.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 6th were paid a dividend of $0.5675 per share. This is an increase from MetLife's previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 6th. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.82%. MetLife's dividend payout ratio is presently 36.91%.

MetLife announced that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, April 30th that allows the company to buyback $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to repurchase up to 5.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.