Burney Co. Sells 21,962 Shares of MetLife, Inc. $MET

Burney Co. cut its holdings in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 35.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 39,733 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 21,962 shares during the quarter. Burney Co.’s holdings in MetLife were worth $2,810,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MET. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in MetLife by 12.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 72,555,335 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,727,518,000 after acquiring an additional 7,805,814 shares during the period. Dodge & Cox grew its position in MetLife by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 53,659,664 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,419,947,000 after purchasing an additional 477,783 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of MetLife by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,572,807 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,035,622,000 after purchasing an additional 180,683 shares during the period. Pzena Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of MetLife by 22.9% during the fourth quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 11,883,338 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $938,071,000 after buying an additional 2,211,315 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of MetLife during the fourth quarter valued at about $639,986,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on MET shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on MetLife from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Wall Street Zen cut MetLife from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. Weiss Ratings upgraded MetLife from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Monday, June 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on MetLife from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on MetLife from $93.00 to $103.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MetLife currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $96.46.

MetLife Stock Up 1.4%

MET opened at $91.76 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $59.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.78, a PEG ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.20 and a current ratio of 0.20. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $83.68 and its 200-day simple moving average is $78.43. MetLife, Inc. has a twelve month low of $67.33 and a twelve month high of $92.27.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.42 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $14.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.49 billion. MetLife had a net margin of 4.66% and a return on equity of 22.60%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.96 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 9th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th were issued a $0.5925 dividend. This represents a $2.37 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 12th. This is an increase from MetLife’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.93%.

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.