MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) Shares Sold by iA Global Asset Management Inc.

iA Global Asset Management Inc. cut its holdings in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 37.1% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 29,872 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 17,643 shares during the period. iA Global Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in MetLife were worth $2,398,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. ABC Arbitrage SA acquired a new position in MetLife during the first quarter worth $3,403,000. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC increased its position in shares of MetLife by 57.8% during the first quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 936 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $75,000 after acquiring an additional 343 shares during the period. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC increased its position in shares of MetLife by 1.3% during the first quarter. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC now owns 34,040 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,733,000 after acquiring an additional 442 shares during the period. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC increased its position in shares of MetLife by 7.4% during the first quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC now owns 24,308 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,952,000 after acquiring an additional 1,665 shares during the period. Finally, Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC increased its position in shares of MetLife by 60.7% during the first quarter. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC now owns 8,690 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $697,000 after acquiring an additional 3,284 shares during the period. 94.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MetLife Price Performance

Shares of MET opened at $76.00 on Thursday. MetLife, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $65.21 and a fifty-two week high of $89.05. The company has a market capitalization of $51.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 0.85. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $78.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $79.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a current ratio of 0.16.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.32 by ($0.30). MetLife had a return on equity of 20.89% and a net margin of 6.08%. The business had revenue of $17.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.58 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.28 EPS. MetLife’s quarterly revenue was down 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate 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, September 9th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 5th will be given a $0.5675 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 5th. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.91%.

MetLife announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, April 30th that permits the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to reacquire up to 5.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MET has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $97.00 price objective (up previously from $94.00) on shares of MetLife in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on MetLife from $86.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on MetLife from $95.00 to $94.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Barclays increased their target price on MetLife from $88.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered MetLife from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $96.10.

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.