Avior Wealth Management LLC Sells 517 Shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Avior Wealth Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 10.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,327 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 517 shares during the period. Avior Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in MetLife were worth $286,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in MetLife by 678.4% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 287,311 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $19,000,000 after buying an additional 250,402 shares during the period. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd boosted its position in MetLife by 19.2% during the fourth quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 1,824,596 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $120,661,000 after buying an additional 293,925 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in shares of MetLife by 9.9% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,664,012 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $176,304,000 after purchasing an additional 240,564 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of MetLife by 50.0% during the third quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 8,856 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $557,000 after purchasing an additional 2,952 shares during the period. Finally, MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH boosted its holdings in shares of MetLife by 13.1% during the fourth quarter. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH now owns 742,302 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $49,088,000 after purchasing an additional 86,091 shares during the period. 89.81% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Bill Pappas sold 27,000 shares of MetLife stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.27, for a total transaction of $1,951,290.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 57,768 shares in the company, valued at $4,174,893.36. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, insider Ramy Tadros sold 4,026 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.90, for a total value of $289,469.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 146,981 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,567,933.90. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Bill Pappas sold 27,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.27, for a total transaction of $1,951,290.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 57,768 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,174,893.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on MET shares. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of MetLife from $87.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of MetLife from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $70.00 to $80.00 in a report on Monday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of MetLife from $83.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of MetLife from $74.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of MetLife from $82.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $79.23.

MetLife Price Performance

MET stock opened at $71.11 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $71.12 and a 200-day moving average price of $66.77. MetLife, Inc. has a 52-week low of $48.95 and a 52-week high of $74.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $51.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.86, a PEG ratio of 0.53 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a current ratio of 0.16.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The financial services provider reported $1.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.95 by ($0.02). MetLife had a net margin of 2.36% and a return on equity of 19.48%. The business had revenue of $18.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.07 billion. Equities research analysts forecast that MetLife, Inc. will post 8.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.