Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp Sells 13,880 Shares of MetLife, Inc. $MET

Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp cut its stake in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 4.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 281,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 13,880 shares during the quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp’s holdings in MetLife were worth $22,598,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Kathmere Capital Management LLC grew its position in MetLife by 88.2% during the second quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 6,328 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $509,000 after acquiring an additional 2,965 shares during the last quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI purchased a new stake in shares of MetLife in the 1st quarter valued at $12,060,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of MetLife by 13.4% during the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,050,921 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $84,378,000 after purchasing an additional 123,947 shares during the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP raised its position in MetLife by 136.0% in the 1st quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 14,721 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,182,000 after purchasing an additional 8,482 shares during the period. Finally, Bell Bank bought a new stake in MetLife in the second quarter worth $267,000. Institutional investors own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MET. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on MetLife from $100.00 to $103.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 11th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on MetLife from $96.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Barclays increased their price objective on MetLife from $93.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Piper Sandler downgraded shares of MetLife from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $84.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Friday, September 19th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of MetLife in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $95.00.

MetLife Stock Performance

NYSE:MET opened at $78.65 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $79.82 and its 200 day simple moving average is $78.92. The stock has a market cap of $51.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 0.87. MetLife, Inc. has a twelve month low of $65.21 and a twelve month high of $89.05.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The financial services provider reported $2.37 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $12.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.64 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.95 earnings per share. MetLife’s quarterly revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 EPS for the current year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 9th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 4th will be given a $0.5675 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 4th. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.75%.

About MetLife

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.