Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisors L.P. Reduces Stock Position in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisors L.P. cut its holdings in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 2.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 178,441 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,561 shares during the period. Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisors L.P.’s holdings in MetLife were worth $14,611,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MET. PFG Investments LLC lifted its position in MetLife by 8.9% during the third quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 6,360 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $525,000 after buying an additional 520 shares in the last quarter. CX Institutional grew its position in shares of MetLife by 15.9% in the 4th quarter. CX Institutional now owns 68,005 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,568,000 after acquiring an additional 9,337 shares in the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new position in shares of MetLife in the 3rd quarter worth about $2,960,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of MetLife by 48,101.4% during the third quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 106,043 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,746,000 after purchasing an additional 105,823 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC bought a new stake in MetLife in the third quarter valued at $1,074,000. 94.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MET has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of MetLife from $93.00 to $92.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on MetLife from $86.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on MetLife in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $97.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com lowered shares of MetLife from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on MetLife from $96.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, MetLife has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $91.08.

MetLife Stock Performance

NYSE:MET opened at $83.99 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. MetLife, Inc. has a 1-year low of $66.18 and a 1-year high of $89.05. The stock has a market cap of $58.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.07. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $83.80 and its 200-day moving average is $80.73.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The financial services provider reported $2.08 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.13 by ($0.05). MetLife had a net margin of 6.19% and a return on equity of 20.42%. Equities research analysts anticipate that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.63 earnings per share for the current year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.545 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 4th. This represents a $2.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.60%. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.52%.

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.