MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) Shares Sold by Kentucky Retirement Systems

Kentucky Retirement Systems cut its position in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 6.3% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 46,619 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,128 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in MetLife were worth $3,455,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in MetLife by 678.4% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 287,311 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $19,000,000 after buying an additional 250,402 shares during the last quarter. CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp bought a new position in MetLife during the 1st quarter worth approximately $7,012,000. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its holdings in 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 buying an additional 131,538 shares during the last quarter. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH lifted its holdings in MetLife by 13.1% during the 4th quarter. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH now owns 742,302 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $49,088,000 after buying an additional 86,091 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp lifted its holdings in MetLife by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 2,005,738 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $132,641,000 after buying an additional 35,782 shares during the last quarter. 89.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on MET. StockNews.com cut MetLife from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, July 1st. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on MetLife from $85.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 6th. Citigroup increased their price target on MetLife from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Argus increased their price target on MetLife from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on MetLife from $82.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, MetLife has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.08.

MetLife Stock Performance

Shares of MetLife stock traded up $0.68 during trading on Friday, reaching $76.00. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,397,119 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,968,688. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a current ratio of 0.16. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $71.68 and its 200-day moving average price is $71.01. The firm has a market cap of $54.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.11. MetLife, Inc. has a one year low of $57.91 and a one year high of $76.90.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The financial services provider reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83. The business had revenue of $17.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.73 billion. MetLife had a return on equity of 20.39% and a net margin of 3.50%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.52 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that MetLife, Inc. will post 8.59 earnings per share for the current year.

MetLife announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, May 1st that permits the company to buyback $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to repurchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 6th will be given a dividend of $0.545 per share. This represents a $2.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 6th. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.