BSW Wealth Partners Sells 254 Shares of MetLife, Inc. $MET

BSW Wealth Partners reduced its holdings in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 8.8% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,641 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 254 shares during the period. BSW Wealth Partners’ holdings in MetLife were worth $212,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in shares of MetLife by 9.0% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 4,240 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $347,000 after acquiring an additional 351 shares in the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. boosted its stake in MetLife by 118,328.6% during the first quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 8,290 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $665,000 after acquiring an additional 8,283 shares in the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in MetLife by 26.6% in the first quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 27,026 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,170,000 after purchasing an additional 5,682 shares during the period. Portside Wealth Group LLC increased its stake in MetLife by 3.9% in the first quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC now owns 11,689 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $957,000 after purchasing an additional 444 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Chesley Taft & Associates LLC raised its holdings in shares of MetLife by 6.6% during the first quarter. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC now owns 19,028 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,528,000 after purchasing an additional 1,180 shares during the period. 94.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on MET shares. Piper Sandler lowered MetLife from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $84.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Friday, September 19th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on MetLife from $94.00 to $91.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on MetLife from $86.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Barclays increased their target price on MetLife from $88.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 7th. Finally, Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of MetLife in a report on Friday, August 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $94.64.

MetLife Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of MetLife stock opened at $81.34 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $54.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 0.86. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $79.03 and a 200 day simple moving average of $78.20. MetLife, Inc. has a 12-month low of $65.21 and a 12-month high of $89.05. The company has a current ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57.

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

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 9th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 5th were issued a dividend of $0.5675 per share. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 5th. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio is 38.47%.

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.