Versor Investments LP Lowers Stock Position in MetLife, Inc. $MET

Versor Investments LP lessened its holdings in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 56.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 14,216 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 18,331 shares during the quarter. Versor Investments LP’s holdings in MetLife were worth $1,171,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Allworth Financial LP increased its holdings in MetLife by 13.4% during the 2nd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 10,893 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $876,000 after purchasing an additional 1,285 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in MetLife by 188.1% in the 2nd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 417,515 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $33,577,000 after acquiring an additional 272,619 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its stake in shares of MetLife by 8.9% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,176,469 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $96,905,000 after acquiring an additional 96,523 shares during the last quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of MetLife by 256.8% during the third quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 62,662 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,161,000 after purchasing an additional 45,100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas lifted its holdings in MetLife by 8.3% during the 3rd quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 393,035 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $32,374,000 after buying an additional 30,200 shares in the last quarter. 94.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MET. Weiss Ratings downgraded MetLife from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on shares of MetLife from $92.00 to $90.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 11th. Barclays set a $90.00 price target on shares of MetLife in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of MetLife from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on MetLife from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MetLife has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $95.64.

MetLife Stock Performance

MET stock opened at $76.29 on Tuesday. MetLife, Inc. has a 1-year low of $65.21 and a 1-year high of $87.39. The company has a current ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 0.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The firm has a market cap of $50.27 billion, a PE ratio of 16.23, a P/E/G ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 0.77. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $78.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $78.81.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.58 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.34 by $0.24. MetLife had a return on equity of 21.81% and a net margin of 4.38%.The company had revenue of $18.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $31.43 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.08 earnings per share. MetLife’s revenue was up 27.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current year.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 3rd will be issued a $0.5675 dividend. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 3rd. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio is 48.30%.

MetLife Company 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.