Westpac Banking Corp Lowers Stock Position in MetLife, Inc. $MET

Westpac Banking Corp decreased its position in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 96.9% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,285 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 39,948 shares during the period. Westpac Banking Corp’s holdings in MetLife were worth $103,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Allworth Financial LP increased its stake in MetLife by 13.4% during the second quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 10,893 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $876,000 after acquiring an additional 1,285 shares during the last quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of MetLife by 88.2% during the 2nd quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 6,328 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $509,000 after purchasing an additional 2,965 shares during the period. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI purchased a new stake in MetLife in the 1st quarter valued at about $12,060,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in MetLife by 13.4% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,050,921 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $84,378,000 after buying an additional 123,947 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GSA Capital Partners LLP grew its position in MetLife by 136.0% in the 1st quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 14,721 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,182,000 after acquiring an additional 8,482 shares in the last quarter. 94.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MET has been the topic of several research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of MetLife from $92.00 to $90.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 11th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of MetLife in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. UBS Group cut their price target on MetLife from $96.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on MetLife from $96.00 to $92.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 7th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded MetLife to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, MetLife has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $95.00.

MetLife Stock Performance

NYSE MET opened at $75.53 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $79.74 and a two-hundred day moving average of $78.96. 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 1 year low of $65.21 and a 1 year high of $89.05. The company has a market capitalization of $49.76 billion, a PE ratio of 12.80, a P/E/G ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 0.87.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The financial services provider reported $2.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $12.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.64 billion. MetLife had a return on equity of 19.88% and a net margin of 5.83%.The business’s revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.95 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 is Tuesday, November 4th. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 42.75%.

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.