ProShare Advisors LLC Cuts Position in MetLife, Inc. $MET

ProShare Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 8.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 144,820 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 13,010 shares during the quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC’s holdings in MetLife were worth $11,646,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MET. Quaker Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MetLife by 198.2% during the 2nd quarter. Quaker Wealth Management LLC now owns 333 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 672 shares in the last quarter. Motco lifted its stake in shares of MetLife by 105.5% during the first quarter. Motco now owns 413 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 212 shares in the last quarter. GFG Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MetLife in the second quarter worth about $38,000. Abound Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of MetLife by 652.3% in the second quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 489 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 424 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legend Financial Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of MetLife during the 2nd quarter valued at about $40,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MET has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Piper Sandler cut MetLife from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $84.00 price target for the company. in a report on Friday, September 19th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of MetLife in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of MetLife from $100.00 to $103.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 11th. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of MetLife from $96.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 6th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on MetLife from $92.00 to $90.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $95.00.

MetLife Price Performance

Shares of MET opened at $80.17 on Thursday. MetLife, Inc. has a 52 week low of $65.21 and a 52 week 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. The firm has a market cap of $52.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.59, a PEG ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 0.87. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $79.89 and a 200-day moving average of $78.90.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The financial services provider reported $2.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.07. MetLife had a net margin of 5.83% and a return on equity of 19.88%. The firm had revenue of $12.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.64 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.95 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 EPS for the current year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 9th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 4th will be given a dividend of $0.5675 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 4th. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. MetLife’s payout ratio is currently 42.75%.

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.