Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc. Trims Stake in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc. lowered its stake in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 14.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,187 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,065 shares during the quarter. Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc.’s holdings in MetLife were worth $507,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in MetLife by 109.2% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,826,658 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $722,727,000 after buying an additional 4,606,748 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in MetLife by 27.3% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 13,692 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,116,000 after buying an additional 2,940 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its stake in MetLife by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 776,244 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $63,559,000 after buying an additional 12,723 shares in the last quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in MetLife in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $259,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. lifted its stake in MetLife by 7.1% in the 4th quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 435,847 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $35,687,000 after buying an additional 28,848 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

MetLife Trading Down 0.6%

MET stock opened at $77.20 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $51.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.93, a PEG ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a quick ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $76.77 and a 200-day simple moving average of $81.08. MetLife, Inc. has a 52 week low of $65.21 and a 52 week high of $89.05.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.96 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.00 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $18.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.06 billion. MetLife had a return on equity of 20.42% and a net margin of 6.19%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.83 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 EPS for the current year.

MetLife announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, April 30th that allows the company to buyback $3.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to repurchase up to 5.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

MetLife Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.5675 per share. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.94%. This is an increase from MetLife’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 6th. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.91%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on MET. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on MetLife from $98.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on MetLife from $94.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, May 19th. Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of MetLife in a report on Friday, March 7th. UBS Group boosted their price target on MetLife from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded MetLife from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $94.17.

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.