Sentry Investment Management LLC Sells 563 Shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Sentry Investment Management LLC lessened its position in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 17.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,749 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 563 shares during the period. Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings in MetLife were worth $193,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MET. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of MetLife by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,622,348 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,418,612,000 after purchasing an additional 1,974,268 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of MetLife during the fourth quarter worth about $558,460,000. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in MetLife by 4.1% during the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,772,751 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $205,544,000 after acquiring an additional 108,739 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of MetLife by 29.7% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 2,120,275 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $157,133,000 after buying an additional 485,811 shares during the period. Finally, AustralianSuper Pty Ltd raised its position in shares of MetLife by 0.8% during the second quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 2,063,607 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $144,845,000 after purchasing an additional 16,985 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.81% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on MET shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of MetLife from $86.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on MetLife from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Citigroup raised their price target on MetLife from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on MetLife from $86.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on MetLife from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Two 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 price target of $84.54.

MetLife Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MET opened at $74.74 on Thursday. MetLife, Inc. has a 12 month low of $57.91 and a 12 month high of $79.34. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $73.62 and its 200 day moving average is $72.20. The company has a market capitalization of $53.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.68, a PEG ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a current ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $2.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.13 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $17.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.57 billion. MetLife had a net margin of 4.23% and a return on equity of 21.41%. The business’s revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.94 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that MetLife, Inc. will post 8.67 EPS for the current year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 6th were paid a $0.545 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 6th. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.92%. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 74.91%.

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.