Sterling Capital Management LLC Sells 45,678 Shares of MetLife, Inc. $MET

Sterling Capital Management LLC decreased its holdings in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 6.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 665,682 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 45,678 shares during the quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC owned about 0.10% of MetLife worth $53,534,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MET. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of MetLife during the 1st quarter valued at $336,965,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in MetLife in the first quarter valued at about $312,946,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in MetLife by 7.4% during the first 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 buying an additional 1,824,907 shares during the last quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. acquired a new position in shares of MetLife during the 1st quarter worth about $68,030,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of 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 valued at $104,270,000 after acquiring an additional 607,333 shares during the period. 94.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MET has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of MetLife in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of MetLife from $93.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Piper Sandler downgraded MetLife from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $84.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Friday, September 19th. Wolfe Research raised MetLife to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on MetLife from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $95.55.

MetLife Trading Down 3.4%

NYSE:MET opened at $76.03 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $50.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 0.87. MetLife, Inc. has a twelve month low of $65.21 and a twelve month high of $89.05. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $80.14 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $78.75. The company has a quick ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The financial services provider reported $2.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.04. MetLife had a net margin of 5.83% and a return on equity of 19.88%. The business had revenue of $17.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.95 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 9th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 4th will be given a dividend of $0.5675 per share. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 4th. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio 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.