MetLife, Inc. $MET Shares Sold by California Public Employees Retirement System

California Public Employees Retirement System trimmed its stake in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 0.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,049,938 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 9,130 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System owned approximately 0.16% of MetLife worth $86,483,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MET. BNP Paribas boosted its stake in MetLife by 3.1% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas now owns 30,612 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,465,000 after acquiring an additional 932 shares in the last quarter. Algert Global LLC increased its position in shares of MetLife by 924.7% during the third quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 51,217 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,219,000 after purchasing an additional 46,219 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of MetLife by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,746,341 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $640,357,000 after purchasing an additional 352,395 shares during the last quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of MetLife by 11.1% in the 3rd quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 33,509 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,760,000 after purchasing an additional 3,352 shares during the period. Finally, Creative Planning boosted its position in shares of MetLife by 16.7% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 195,607 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $16,112,000 after purchasing an additional 27,947 shares during the period. 94.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on MET shares. TD Cowen cut their price target on MetLife from $91.00 to $88.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. Weiss Ratings downgraded MetLife from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Monday, March 9th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of MetLife from $101.00 to $93.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Barclays set a $90.00 target price on shares of MetLife in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on shares of MetLife from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $93.67.

MetLife Stock Up 1.8%

MET opened at $69.21 on Tuesday. MetLife, Inc. has a 52 week low of $65.21 and a 52 week high of $85.00. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $75.95 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $78.25. The company has a quick ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 0.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The company has a market cap of $45.13 billion, a PE ratio of 14.72, a P/E/G ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 0.76.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.34 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $52.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $31.43 billion. MetLife had a return on equity of 21.81% and a net margin of 4.38%.The company’s revenue was up 27.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.08 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 EPS for the current year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 3rd were given a $0.5675 dividend. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 3rd. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.