MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) Shares Sold by Vest Financial LLC

Vest Financial LLC trimmed its position in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,373 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 169 shares during the quarter. Vest Financial LLC’s holdings in MetLife were worth $307,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MET. CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp purchased a new position in MetLife during the first quarter worth about $7,012,000. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its position in shares of MetLife by 54.9% during the 1st quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 371,062 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,983,000 after purchasing an additional 131,538 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp increased its holdings in MetLife by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 2,005,738 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $132,641,000 after purchasing an additional 35,782 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MetLife in the 1st quarter valued at $1,053,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in MetLife by 2,313.7% during the first quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 104,877 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,772,000 after purchasing an additional 100,532 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.81% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MET has been the subject of several recent research reports. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of MetLife from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on MetLife from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on MetLife from $86.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 19th. StockNews.com cut MetLife from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on MetLife from $86.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, MetLife currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $84.54.

MetLife Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of MetLife stock opened at $76.19 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $73.86 and a 200-day simple moving average of $72.28. MetLife, Inc. has a 12-month low of $57.91 and a 12-month high of $79.34. The company has a current ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The stock has a market cap of $54.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.18, a PEG ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 1.04.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $2.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.13 by $0.15. MetLife had a net margin of 4.23% and a return on equity of 21.41%. The company had revenue of $17.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.57 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.94 earnings per share. MetLife’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that MetLife, Inc. will post 8.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 6th were given a dividend of $0.545 per share. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.86%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 6th. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 74.91%.

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.