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

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lessened its holdings in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:METFree Report) by 14.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 101,890 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 17,305 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in MetLife were worth $7,206,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MET. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in shares of MetLife by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,630,165 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $366,524,000 after acquiring an additional 117,545 shares during the last quarter. AIA Group Ltd increased its stake in MetLife by 93.5% in the third quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 33,714 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,777,000 after acquiring an additional 16,288 shares during the last quarter. Strs Ohio increased its stake in MetLife by 16.6% in the fourth quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 326,091 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,742,000 after acquiring an additional 46,469 shares during the last quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC raised its position in MetLife by 195.8% during the fourth quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 33,260 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,626,000 after purchasing an additional 22,016 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab bought a new stake in MetLife during the fourth quarter worth about $81,494,000. 94.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MetLife Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of NYSE:MET opened at $93.99 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $60.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.78. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $85.80 and its 200-day moving average price is $79.07. The company has a current ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 0.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. MetLife, Inc. has a 12-month low of $67.33 and a 12-month high of $94.86.

MetLife (NYSE:METGet Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $14.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.49 billion. MetLife had a return on equity of 22.60% and a net margin of 4.66%.MetLife’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.96 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.94 earnings per share for the current year.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 8th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 4th will be paid a $0.5925 dividend. This represents a $2.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 4th. MetLife’s payout ratio is 45.93%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on MET shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on MetLife from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. Atlantic Securities set a $103.00 target price on MetLife in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group upped their target price on MetLife from $102.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of MetLife from $93.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, Evercore set a $96.00 price target on shares of MetLife in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, MetLife currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $98.57.

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MetLife Profile

(Free Report)

MetLife, Inc is a global provider of insurance, annuities and employee benefit programs. Headquartered in New York City, the company offers a range of risk protection and retirement solutions to individuals, employers and institutional clients. Its core businesses include life insurance, group benefits, retirement products such as annuities, and supplemental health products including dental and disability coverage.

In addition to traditional life and group insurance, MetLife provides workplace benefits and voluntary products distributed through employer-sponsored programs.

See Also

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Institutional Ownership by Quarter for MetLife (NYSE:MET)

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