MetLife, Inc. $MET Shares Sold by SWS Partners

SWS Partners cut its stake in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 1.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 31,542 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 421 shares during the quarter. SWS Partners’ holdings in MetLife were worth $2,537,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. GC Wealth Management RIA LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MetLife in the 2nd quarter worth about $216,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC boosted its position in shares of MetLife by 288.6% in the 2nd quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 30,340 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,440,000 after buying an additional 22,533 shares in the last quarter. Global Trust Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of MetLife by 65.8% in the 2nd quarter. Global Trust Asset Management LLC now owns 1,008 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $81,000 after buying an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Investment Advisory Services Inc. TX ADV boosted its position in shares of MetLife by 10.2% in the 2nd quarter. Investment Advisory Services Inc. TX ADV now owns 4,545 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $366,000 after buying an additional 421 shares in the last quarter. Finally, City Holding Co. boosted its position in shares of MetLife by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. City Holding Co. now owns 9,090 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $731,000 after buying an additional 290 shares in the last quarter. 94.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MET has been the topic of several recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of MetLife from $94.00 to $92.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of MetLife from $86.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of MetLife from $98.00 to $94.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 18th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of MetLife from $88.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 7th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of MetLife from $94.00 to $91.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, MetLife has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $94.64.

MetLife Trading Up 1.7%

Shares of MET stock opened at $81.61 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $54.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.83, a PEG ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 0.87. MetLife, Inc. has a 1-year low of $65.21 and a 1-year high of $89.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.16 and a quick ratio of 0.16. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $78.67 and its 200-day simple moving average is $78.14.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.32 by ($0.30). The company had revenue of $17.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.58 billion. MetLife had a return on equity of 19.88% and a net margin of 5.83%.The company’s revenue was down 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.28 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 EPS for the current year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 9th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 5th were issued a dividend of $0.5675 per share. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 5th. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio is presently 38.47%.

MetLife Company 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.