Schroder Investment Management Group Sells 76,345 Shares of MetLife, Inc. $MET

Key Points

• Schroder Investment Management Group trimmed its MetLife stake by 16.4% in Q3, selling 76,345 shares and leaving a holding of 390,258 shares worth about $32.03 million.
• Other large moves include Norges Bank opening a new ~ $756 million position and Vanguard boosting its stake to 64.75 million shares (~$5.33 billion); institutional and hedge fund ownership totals about 94.99%.
• MetLife recently beat quarterly EPS estimates ($2.49 vs. $2.34) with strong revenue growth, pays a $0.5675 quarterly dividend (≈3.2% yield), and carries a consensus analyst rating of "Moderate Buy" with a $93.67 target.

Schroder Investment Management Group reduced its position in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET - Free Report) by 16.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 390,258 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 76,345 shares during the quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group owned approximately 0.06% of MetLife worth $32,028,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in MetLife in the 2nd quarter worth $756,104,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of MetLife by 13.3% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,749,521 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $5,333,418,000 after acquiring an additional 7,578,199 shares during the last quarter. ABN AMRO Bank N.V. purchased a new stake in shares of MetLife during the second quarter worth about $178,669,000. Amundi boosted its holdings in shares of MetLife by 40.2% during the second quarter. Amundi now owns 4,507,362 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $361,265,000 after purchasing an additional 1,292,107 shares during the period. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of MetLife by 173.4% in the third quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,641,253 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $135,190,000 after purchasing an additional 1,040,894 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.99% of the company's stock.

MetLife Stock Performance

Shares of MET opened at $69.96 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $76.65 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $78.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.20 and a quick ratio of 0.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.62 billion, a PE ratio of 14.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 0.76. MetLife, Inc. has a one year low of $65.21 and a one year high of $85.00.

MetLife (NYSE:MET - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.34 by $0.15. MetLife had a return on equity of 21.81% and a net margin of 4.38%.The firm had revenue of $52.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $31.43 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.08 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 27.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 3rd were paid a $0.5675 dividend. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 3rd. MetLife's dividend payout ratio is presently 48.30%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. TD Cowen lowered their price target on MetLife from $91.00 to $88.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group lifted their price objective on MetLife from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Evercore set a $95.00 target price on MetLife in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. Mizuho set a $100.00 target price on MetLife in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on MetLife from $97.00 to $93.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $93.67.

MetLife Profile

MetLife, Inc is a global provider of insurance, annuities and employee benefit programs. Headquartered in New York City, the company offers a range of risk protection and retirement solutions to individuals, employers and institutional clients. Its core businesses include life insurance, group benefits, retirement products such as annuities, and supplemental health products including dental and disability coverage.

In addition to traditional life and group insurance, MetLife provides workplace benefits and voluntary products distributed through employer-sponsored programs.

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