Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado Trims Stock Holdings in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado reduced its stake in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 5.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 79,149 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 4,823 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado’s holdings in MetLife were worth $6,481,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MET. Transce3nd LLC purchased a new stake in MetLife in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in MetLife in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in MetLife during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Sierra Ocean LLC purchased a new stake in MetLife during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Graney & King LLC purchased a new stake in MetLife during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. 94.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of MetLife from $88.00 to $86.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com lowered shares of MetLife from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on shares of MetLife in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. They set a “market perform” rating and a $97.00 price target on the stock. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of MetLife from $92.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on MetLife from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, MetLife has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $92.46.

MetLife Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of MetLife stock opened at $75.95 on Tuesday. MetLife, Inc. has a 52-week low of $65.21 and a 52-week high of $89.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $78.20 and its 200-day simple moving average is $81.71. The firm has a market cap of $51.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 0.89.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The financial services provider reported $2.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.13 by ($0.05). MetLife had a return on equity of 20.42% and a net margin of 6.19%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current year.

MetLife Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.5675 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 6th. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.99%. This is an increase from MetLife’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. MetLife’s payout ratio is currently 38.02%.

About MetLife

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.