Leavell Investment Management Inc. Decreases Stake in MetLife, Inc. $MET

Leavell Investment Management Inc. reduced its stake in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 19.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,410 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,096 shares during the period. Leavell Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in MetLife were worth $355,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MET. Kathmere Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of MetLife by 88.2% during the 2nd quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 6,328 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $509,000 after buying an additional 2,965 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its stake in MetLife by 4.8% in the 1st quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 422,684 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $33,937,000 after purchasing an additional 19,192 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc acquired a new position in MetLife in the 1st quarter valued at about $255,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its stake in MetLife by 20.7% in the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 60,785 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,735,000 after purchasing an additional 10,414 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp raised its stake in MetLife by 20.4% in the 1st quarter. CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 108,920 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,745,000 after purchasing an additional 18,461 shares during the last quarter. 94.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on MET shares. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of MetLife from $100.00 to $103.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 11th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of MetLife from $94.00 to $91.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of MetLife from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of MetLife from $86.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on MetLife from $93.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $95.18.

MetLife Trading Up 0.3%

NYSE:MET opened at $78.89 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. MetLife, Inc. has a 1-year low of $65.21 and a 1-year high of $89.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $52.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.86. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $80.40 and a 200 day simple moving average of $78.43.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.32 by ($0.30). The business had revenue of $17.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.28 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 9th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 4th will be given a dividend of $0.5675 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 4th. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. MetLife’s payout ratio is currently 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.