Woodline Partners LP Trims Stake in MetLife, Inc. $MET

Key Points

• Woodline Partners LP reduced its stake in MetLife by 0.8%, selling 9,859 shares, which now makes up 0.6% of its portfolio valued at approximately $97 million.
• Several hedge funds have increased their stakes in MetLife, with Brighton Jones LLC boosting its holdings by 9% and First Manhattan CO. LLC increasing theirs by 23.1% in recent quarters.
• MetLife's recent quarterly earnings reported $2.02 EPS, missing estimates, and the company declared a dividend of $0.5675 per share, reflecting a 2.9% yield.

Woodline Partners LP reduced its stake in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET - Free Report) by 0.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,211,037 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 9,859 shares during the quarter. MetLife comprises approximately 0.6% of Woodline Partners LP's portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. Woodline Partners LP owned approximately 0.18% of MetLife worth $97,234,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of MET. Csenge Advisory Group increased its stake in shares of MetLife by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 13,647 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,096,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. Delta Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of MetLife by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Delta Investment Management LLC now owns 14,265 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,145,000 after buying an additional 133 shares in the last quarter. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. lifted its stake in shares of MetLife by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. now owns 6,463 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $519,000 after buying an additional 159 shares in the last quarter. Unigestion Holding SA lifted its stake in shares of MetLife by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Unigestion Holding SA now owns 23,661 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,900,000 after buying an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Davis R M Inc. lifted its stake in shares of MetLife by 5.3% during the 1st quarter. Davis R M Inc. now owns 3,315 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $266,000 after buying an additional 167 shares in the last quarter. 94.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MET has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price 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. Wall Street Zen cut shares of MetLife from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. Cowen restated a "buy" rating on shares of MetLife in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of MetLife from $94.00 to $91.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company restated an "overweight" rating and set a $97.00 target price (up previously from $94.00) on shares of MetLife in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $95.60.

MetLife Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MET traded up $0.52 on Friday, reaching $80.86. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,314,200 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,352,800. MetLife, Inc. has a 52-week low of $65.21 and a 52-week high of $89.05. The company has a market cap of $53.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.70, a PEG ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $78.21 and a 200 day simple moving average of $78.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a current ratio of 0.16.

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

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 9th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 5th were paid a $0.5675 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 5th. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. MetLife's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.