SVB Wealth LLC Sells 445 Shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

SVB Wealth LLC lowered its stake in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 4.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,865 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 445 shares during the period. SVB Wealth LLC’s holdings in MetLife were worth $652,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Synovus Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of MetLife by 11.4% during the 1st quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 17,847 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,260,000 after purchasing an additional 1,829 shares in the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC bought a new position in shares of MetLife during the 1st quarter valued at about $225,000. Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of MetLife by 179.7% during the 1st quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 540,081 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $37,957,000 after purchasing an additional 346,999 shares in the last quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. lifted its holdings in shares of MetLife by 937.3% during the 1st quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 5,861 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $412,000 after purchasing an additional 5,296 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of MetLife by 114.5% during the 1st quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 3,419 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $240,000 after purchasing an additional 1,825 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.81% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MET. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on MetLife from $74.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. UBS Group cut their target price on MetLife from $87.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 5th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on MetLife from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded MetLife from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $70.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on MetLife from $82.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $79.23.

MetLife Stock Up 1.7 %

NYSE:MET opened at $71.11 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $51.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.53 and a beta of 1.04. MetLife, Inc. has a twelve month low of $48.95 and a twelve month high of $74.68. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $71.12 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $66.77.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 57,768 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,174,893.36. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other MetLife news, EVP Bill Pappas sold 27,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.27, for a total value of $1,951,290.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 57,768 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,174,893.36. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Ramy Tadros sold 4,026 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 $10,567,933.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.32% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About MetLife

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.