Kanawha Capital Management LLC Cuts Stock Position in MetLife, Inc. $MET

Kanawha Capital Management LLC lessened its stake in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 57,373 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 554 shares during the quarter. Kanawha Capital Management LLC’s holdings in MetLife were worth $4,614,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. VELA Investment Management LLC grew its stake in MetLife by 11.2% in the second quarter. VELA Investment Management LLC now owns 21,738 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,748,000 after purchasing an additional 2,193 shares during the last quarter. Arista Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MetLife during the second quarter worth about $470,000. Applied Finance Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of MetLife by 4.5% during the second quarter. Applied Finance Capital Management LLC now owns 286,360 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $23,029,000 after acquiring an additional 12,288 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of MetLife by 1.9% during the second quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,426,101 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $355,239,000 after acquiring an additional 80,633 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aware Super Pty Ltd as trustee of Aware Super grew its stake in shares of MetLife by 0.5% during the second quarter. Aware Super Pty Ltd as trustee of Aware Super now owns 287,861 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $23,150,000 after acquiring an additional 1,343 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MET has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on MetLife from $100.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Wolfe Research upgraded MetLife to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 16th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on MetLife from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of MetLife in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on MetLife from $86.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $95.18.

MetLife Trading Up 0.9%

MetLife stock opened at $78.55 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. MetLife, Inc. has a 52 week low of $65.21 and a 52 week high of $89.05. The company has a market capitalization of $52.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 0.86. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $80.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $78.11.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.32 by ($0.30). MetLife had a net margin of 5.83% and a return on equity of 19.88%. The company had revenue of $17.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.58 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.28 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 EPS for the current year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 9th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 4th will be issued a $0.5675 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 4th. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. MetLife’s payout ratio is presently 38.47%.

MetLife Company Profile

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.