MetLife, Inc. $MET Shares Sold by WBH Advisory Inc.

WBH Advisory Inc. reduced its stake in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 21.7% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 4,966 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,380 shares during the quarter. WBH Advisory Inc.’s holdings in MetLife were worth $399,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MET. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of MetLife during the 1st quarter worth approximately $336,965,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of MetLife during the 1st quarter worth approximately $312,946,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in MetLife by 7.4% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 26,488,146 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,126,734,000 after acquiring an additional 1,824,907 shares during the period. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. purchased a new stake in MetLife in the 1st quarter worth approximately $68,030,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in MetLife by 85.0% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,321,881 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $104,270,000 after acquiring an additional 607,333 shares during the period. 94.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MetLife Stock Performance

NYSE:MET opened at $78.78 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.16 and a quick ratio of 0.16. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $80.27 and a two-hundred day moving average of $78.17. The stock has a market cap of $52.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.35, a PEG ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.86. MetLife, Inc. has a 1-year low of $65.21 and a 1-year high of $89.05.

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

MetLife Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MET has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of MetLife from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Wolfe Research raised shares of MetLife to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 16th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of MetLife from $100.00 to $103.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 11th. Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of MetLife in a report on Friday, August 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of MetLife from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $95.18.

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.