Howard Capital Management Inc. Sells 3,059 Shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Howard Capital Management Inc. cut its stake in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 5.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 52,789 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,059 shares during the quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in MetLife were worth $4,322,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MET. Swedbank AB increased its stake in shares of MetLife by 76.0% in the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 3,466,808 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $283,862,000 after acquiring an additional 1,496,645 shares during the last quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI bought a new stake in shares of MetLife in the 3rd quarter valued at about $91,771,000. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. increased its stake in shares of MetLife by 79.1% in the 3rd quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 1,726,209 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $142,378,000 after acquiring an additional 762,291 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of MetLife by 256.6% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 948,223 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $78,209,000 after acquiring an additional 682,333 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in MetLife by 16.8% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,238,087 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $347,735,000 after purchasing an additional 608,224 shares in the last quarter. 94.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on MetLife from $100.00 to $98.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on MetLife from $92.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. TD Cowen increased their target price on MetLife from $97.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. StockNews.com cut MetLife from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on MetLife in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. They set a “market perform” rating and a $97.00 target price for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MetLife currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $92.58.

MetLife Trading Down 2.1 %

NYSE:MET opened at $81.02 on Friday. MetLife, Inc. has a twelve month low of $67.30 and a twelve month high of $89.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $83.41 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $81.44. The company has a market cap of $56.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 1.07.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The financial services provider reported $2.08 EPS 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%. As a group, analysts expect that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 4th will be issued a $0.545 dividend. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 4th. MetLife’s payout ratio is presently 36.52%.

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.