King Luther Capital Management Corp Cuts Stock Holdings in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

King Luther Capital Management Corp trimmed its holdings in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 29,648 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 420 shares during the period. King Luther Capital Management Corp’s holdings in MetLife were worth $2,428,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MET. Swedbank AB boosted its stake in MetLife by 5.3% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,970,163 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $162,499,000 after acquiring an additional 99,328 shares in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of MetLife during the 3rd quarter valued at $55,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its position in MetLife by 37.0% in the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 533 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP increased its position in MetLife by 54.2% in the third quarter. Entropy Technologies LP now owns 12,821 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,057,000 after buying an additional 4,509 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First National Trust Co boosted its stake in shares of MetLife by 14.7% in the third quarter. First National Trust Co now owns 33,220 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,740,000 after acquiring an additional 4,253 shares during the period. 94.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MET has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded MetLife from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of MetLife in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of MetLife from $92.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of MetLife from $100.00 to $98.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on MetLife from $101.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, MetLife presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $94.58.

MetLife Stock Performance

Shares of MET stock opened at $79.22 on Thursday. MetLife, Inc. has a 12-month low of $67.30 and a 12-month high of $89.05. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $83.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $82.39. The company has a market cap of $53.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a current ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The financial services provider reported $2.08 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.13 by ($0.05). MetLife had a net margin of 6.19% and a return on equity of 20.42%. On average, equities analysts forecast that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 EPS for the current year.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 4th were given a dividend of $0.545 per share. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.75%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 4th. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.52%.

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.