MetLife, Inc. $MET Shares Sold by Wedge Capital Management L L P NC

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lessened its stake in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 8.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 395,044 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 36,275 shares during the quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC owned 0.06% of MetLife worth $31,185,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MET. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its holdings in MetLife by 1,169.9% in the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 158,286 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $12,495,000 after purchasing an additional 145,822 shares during the last quarter. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC grew its stake in MetLife by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC now owns 61,127 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,825,000 after acquiring an additional 1,390 shares during the last quarter. Accurate Wealth Management LLC raised its position in MetLife by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. Accurate Wealth Management LLC now owns 19,475 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,547,000 after acquiring an additional 1,338 shares during the last quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MetLife by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 24,390 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,925,000 after purchasing an additional 247 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Butensky & Cohen Financial Security Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of MetLife by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Butensky & Cohen Financial Security Inc. now owns 67,912 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,361,000 after purchasing an additional 1,595 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of MetLife from $97.00 to $93.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on MetLife from $101.00 to $93.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. UBS Group raised their price target on MetLife from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Barclays set a $90.00 price objective on MetLife in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Finally, Mizuho set a $100.00 price objective on MetLife in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MetLife has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $93.42.

MetLife Stock Performance

NYSE MET opened at $67.63 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $74.23 and its 200 day moving average price is $77.55. The company has a current ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 0.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. MetLife, Inc. has a twelve month low of $65.21 and a twelve month high of $83.85. The company has a market capitalization of $44.10 billion, a PE ratio of 14.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 0.76.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.49 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.34 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $52.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $31.43 billion. MetLife had a net margin of 4.38% and a return on equity of 21.81%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 27.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.08 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current year.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 3rd were given a dividend of $0.5675 per share. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 3rd. MetLife’s payout ratio is 48.30%.

About MetLife

MetLife, Inc is a global provider of insurance, annuities and employee benefit programs. Headquartered in New York City, the company offers a range of risk protection and retirement solutions to individuals, employers and institutional clients. Its core businesses include life insurance, group benefits, retirement products such as annuities, and supplemental health products including dental and disability coverage.

In addition to traditional life and group insurance, MetLife provides workplace benefits and voluntary products distributed through employer-sponsored programs.