Bank of Montreal Can Sells 44,173 Shares of MetLife, Inc. $MET

Bank of Montreal Can lowered its holdings in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 4.2% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,012,940 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 44,173 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can’s holdings in MetLife were worth $81,461,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of MET. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in MetLife by 9.0% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 4,240 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $347,000 after purchasing an additional 351 shares during the period. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of MetLife by 28.3% during the first quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 9,887 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $794,000 after acquiring an additional 2,179 shares during the period. Strategic Blueprint LLC boosted its holdings in shares of MetLife by 14.6% during the first quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC now owns 3,508 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $282,000 after acquiring an additional 448 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors boosted its holdings in shares of MetLife by 21.1% during the first quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 7,189 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $577,000 after acquiring an additional 1,251 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of MetLife by 3.6% during the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,006,779 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $241,414,000 after acquiring an additional 105,376 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on MetLife from $94.00 to $92.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 11th. Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of MetLife in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of MetLife from $86.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of MetLife from $93.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of MetLife in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $95.18.

MetLife Stock Up 0.2%

NYSE MET opened at $79.41 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $80.29 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $78.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.16 and a quick ratio of 0.16. MetLife, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $65.21 and a fifty-two week high of $89.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $52.81 billion, a PE ratio of 13.46, a PEG ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 0.86.

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

MetLife Announces Dividend

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

MetLife 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.