Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisors L.P. Sells 30,200 Shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisors L.P. lowered its stake in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 16.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 148,241 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 30,200 shares during the quarter. Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisors L.P.’s holdings in MetLife were worth $11,902,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of MetLife in the 4th quarter worth about $730,716,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in MetLife by 33.7% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 24,663,239 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,019,427,000 after purchasing an additional 6,213,923 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position 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 worth $722,727,000 after purchasing an additional 4,606,748 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of MetLife by 43.7% during the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 5,663,177 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $463,701,000 after buying an additional 1,723,461 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in MetLife by 15.7% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,052,202 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $577,434,000 after acquiring an additional 958,458 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on MET shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on shares of MetLife from $98.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of MetLife from $92.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of MetLife from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on MetLife from $88.00 to $86.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on MetLife from $91.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $94.17.

MetLife Stock Up 0.8%

NYSE:MET opened at $78.51 on Friday. MetLife, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $65.21 and a fifty-two week high of $89.05. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $77.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $80.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a current ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $52.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.77, a P/E/G ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 0.86.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.00 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $18.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.06 billion. MetLife had a return on equity of 20.89% and a net margin of 6.08%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.83 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 6th were issued a $0.5675 dividend. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 6th. This is an increase from MetLife’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.91%.

MetLife announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, April 30th that authorizes the company to buyback $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to buy 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 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.