Candriam S.C.A. Sells 108,152 Shares of MetLife, Inc. $MET

Candriam S.C.A. lowered its stake in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 22.8% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 365,735 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 108,152 shares during the quarter. Candriam S.C.A.’s holdings in MetLife were worth $29,365,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MET. Eagle Strategies LLC grew its stake in MetLife by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Eagle Strategies LLC now owns 2,707 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $222,000 after purchasing an additional 123 shares during the period. Csenge Advisory Group boosted its holdings in MetLife by 1.0% in the first quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 13,647 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,096,000 after acquiring an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. boosted its holdings in MetLife by 2.5% in the first quarter. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. now owns 6,463 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $519,000 after acquiring an additional 159 shares in the last quarter. Unigestion Holding SA boosted its holdings in MetLife by 0.7% in the first quarter. Unigestion Holding SA now owns 23,661 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,900,000 after acquiring an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Davis R M Inc. boosted its holdings in MetLife by 5.3% in the first quarter. Davis R M Inc. now owns 3,315 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $266,000 after acquiring an additional 167 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MET has been the topic of several recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on MetLife from $100.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 11th. Barclays increased their price target on MetLife from $88.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on MetLife from $94.00 to $92.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised 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. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered MetLife from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 24th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $95.60.

MetLife Stock Performance

NYSE:MET opened at $78.9760 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.16 and a quick ratio of 0.16. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $77.82 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $78.60. MetLife, Inc. has a 1 year low of $65.21 and a 1 year high of $89.05. The company has a market capitalization of $52.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.39, a P/E/G ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.85.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.32 by ($0.30). MetLife had a return on equity of 19.88% and a net margin of 5.83%.The company had revenue of $17.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.58 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.28 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current year.

MetLife announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, April 30th that allows the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to reacquire up to 5.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 9th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 5th will be issued a $0.5675 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 5th. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.47%.

MetLife Company 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.