Ramirez Asset Management Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in MetLife, Inc. $MET

Ramirez Asset Management Inc. decreased its holdings in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 33.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 500 shares during the quarter. Ramirez Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in MetLife were worth $80,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in MetLife by 7.4% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 26,488,146 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,126,734,000 after buying an additional 1,824,907 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of MetLife by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,862,835 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $711,597,000 after purchasing an additional 36,177 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of MetLife by 3.6% during the 1st quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,406,512 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $594,410,000 after purchasing an additional 259,993 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of MetLife by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,109,423 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $570,816,000 after purchasing an additional 57,221 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of MetLife by 3.7% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,671,435 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $535,568,000 after purchasing an additional 236,698 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on MET. Piper Sandler downgraded MetLife from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $84.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Friday, September 19th. Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of MetLife in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of MetLife in a research note on Wednesday. Barclays boosted their price target on MetLife from $93.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded MetLife to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, MetLife presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $95.18.

MetLife Trading Down 2.6%

Shares of NYSE:MET opened at $79.88 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $79.68 and a 200 day moving average of $78.16. The company has a market cap of $53.12 billion, a PE ratio of 13.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 0.86. 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, Inc. has a 12-month low of $65.21 and a 12-month high of $89.05.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last posted its quarterly 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 19.88% and a net margin of 5.83%.The business had revenue of $17.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.58 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.28 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 EPS for the current year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 9th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.5675 per share. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 4th. 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.