Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Sells 16,130 Shares of MetLife, Inc. $MET

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC decreased its stake in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 7.9% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 189,024 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 16,130 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in MetLife were worth $15,570,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MET. Verity & Verity LLC raised its position in shares of MetLife by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Verity & Verity LLC now owns 244,027 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $20,101,000 after acquiring an additional 4,203 shares during the period. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. increased its stake in MetLife by 22.2% in the third quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 1,047 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $86,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares in the last quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. raised its holdings in MetLife by 37.2% in the third quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. now owns 745 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares during the period. SteelPeak Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of MetLife by 30.1% during the third quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC now owns 42,366 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,490,000 after purchasing an additional 9,791 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tectonic Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of MetLife by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC now owns 16,526 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,361,000 after buying an additional 498 shares during the period. 94.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MET has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of MetLife in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on MetLife from $92.00 to $90.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 11th. Evercore ISI set a $97.00 price objective on MetLife and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday. Wolfe Research raised MetLife to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 16th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price target on shares of MetLife from $95.00 to $94.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $95.08.

MetLife Trading Down 0.5%

NYSE:MET opened at $79.37 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $52.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 0.76. MetLife, Inc. has a twelve month low of $65.21 and a twelve month high of $88.09. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $78.77 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $79.02. The company has a quick ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 0.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 5th. The financial services provider reported $2.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.07. MetLife had a net margin of 5.30% and a return on equity of 21.00%. The company had revenue of $12.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.64 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.95 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.5675 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 3rd. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. MetLife’s payout ratio is 42.75%.

MetLife Profile

MetLife, Inc is a global provider of insurance, annuities and employee benefit programs. Headquartered in New York City, the company offers a range of risk protection and retirement solutions to individuals, employers and institutional clients. Its core businesses include life insurance, group benefits, retirement products such as annuities, and supplemental health products including dental and disability coverage.

In addition to traditional life and group insurance, MetLife provides workplace benefits and voluntary products distributed through employer-sponsored programs.