Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Cuts Position in MetLife, Inc. $MET

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund reduced its stake in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 10.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 108,518 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 12,242 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in MetLife were worth $8,727,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in MET. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in MetLife during the first quarter worth about $336,965,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in MetLife in the first quarter valued at about $312,946,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of MetLife by 7.4% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 26,488,146 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,126,734,000 after acquiring an additional 1,824,907 shares during the period. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of MetLife during the 1st quarter worth approximately $68,030,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of MetLife by 85.0% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,321,881 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $104,270,000 after acquiring an additional 607,333 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

MetLife Trading Up 0.7%

MetLife stock opened at $77.74 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $79.90 and a 200 day moving average price of $78.89. MetLife, Inc. has a 52 week low of $65.21 and a 52 week high of $89.05. The stock has a market cap of $51.70 billion, a PE ratio of 13.18, a P/E/G ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a current ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The financial services provider reported $2.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $12.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.64 billion. MetLife had a net margin of 5.83% and a return on equity of 19.88%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.95 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 9th. Investors 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 yield of 2.9%. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 42.75%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MET has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wolfe Research upgraded MetLife to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 16th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on MetLife from $100.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Piper Sandler cut shares of MetLife from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $84.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Friday, September 19th. Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of MetLife in a research report on Friday, August 22nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of MetLife in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $95.00.

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.