StockNews.com Downgrades MetLife (NYSE:MET) to Hold

MetLife (NYSE:MET) was downgraded by StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Tuesday.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on MET. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on MetLife from $83.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Barclays began coverage on shares of MetLife in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $91.00 price objective on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of MetLife from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Citigroup increased their price objective on MetLife from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on MetLife from $86.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $84.54.

MetLife Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of MetLife stock traded down $0.85 on Tuesday, reaching $74.63. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,991,856 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,348,328. The company has a market capitalization of $53.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.65, a P/E/G ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a quick ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $73.53 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $72.18. MetLife has a 52 week low of $57.91 and a 52 week high of $79.34.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $2.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.13 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $17.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.57 billion. MetLife had a net margin of 4.23% and a return on equity of 21.41%. MetLife’s revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.94 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that MetLife will post 8.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of MetLife

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Gilbert & Cook Inc. increased its stake in MetLife by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 13,872 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $917,000 after acquiring an additional 605 shares during the last quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of MetLife in the 4th quarter worth about $201,000. Principal Securities Inc. bought a new position in shares of MetLife during the 4th quarter valued at about $288,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in MetLife by 20.9% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,053,851 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $268,090,000 after buying an additional 700,788 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ieq Capital LLC boosted its stake in MetLife by 13.3% in the fourth quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 14,858 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $983,000 after buying an additional 1,742 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.81% of the company’s stock.

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.