ST Germain D J Co. Inc. Sells 237 Shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

ST Germain D J Co. Inc. cut its holdings in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 18.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,059 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 237 shares during the period. ST Germain D J Co. Inc.’s holdings in MetLife were worth $87,000 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. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in MetLife by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,622,348 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,418,612,000 after buying an additional 1,974,268 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new position in MetLife in the first quarter valued at about $131,456,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its position in MetLife by 7,837.0% in the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,129,353 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $79,250,000 after purchasing an additional 1,115,124 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in MetLife by 22.4% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,396,274 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $378,799,000 after purchasing an additional 988,666 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its position in MetLife by 29.7% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 2,120,275 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $157,133,000 after purchasing an additional 485,811 shares during the period. 89.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MetLife Trading Down 0.4 %

MET opened at $85.32 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $60.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.32, a P/E/G ratio of 0.69 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 0.56. MetLife, Inc. has a 12 month low of $57.91 and a 12 month high of $86.94. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $78.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $74.12.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $2.28 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 analyst estimates of $18.57 billion. MetLife had a return on equity of 21.41% and a net margin of 4.23%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.94 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that MetLife, Inc. will post 8.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.545 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 5th. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.56%. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio is currently 74.91%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MET has been the topic of several analyst reports. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of MetLife from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Bank of America reduced their price target on MetLife from $99.00 to $96.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on MetLife from $89.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on MetLife from $86.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, TD Cowen assumed coverage on MetLife in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $97.00 price target for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MetLife currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $88.46.

About MetLife

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.