Arizona State Retirement System Trims Stock Position in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Arizona State Retirement System cut its stake in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 1.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 170,366 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,947 shares during the quarter. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in MetLife were worth $13,950,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MET. Swedbank AB increased its position in shares of 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 during the period. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of MetLife during the third quarter worth approximately $233,000. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its stake in shares of MetLife by 18.6% during the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 186,361 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $15,371,000 after purchasing an additional 29,163 shares in the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of MetLife by 9.4% during the third quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 259,461 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $21,400,000 after purchasing an additional 22,278 shares in the last quarter. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of MetLife by 19.9% during the third quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 57,466 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,740,000 after purchasing an additional 9,521 shares in the last quarter. 94.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of MetLife from $100.00 to $98.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of MetLife from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on shares of MetLife in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. They set a “market perform” rating and a $97.00 price objective on the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of MetLife from $101.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, MetLife currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $94.58.

MetLife Trading Up 2.0 %

NYSE MET opened at $83.17 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $83.74 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $82.15. The stock has a market cap of $56.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.93, a P/E/G ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 1.04. MetLife, Inc. has a 12-month low of $67.30 and a 12-month high of $89.05. 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 quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The financial services provider reported $2.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.13 by ($0.05). MetLife had a return on equity of 20.42% and a net margin of 6.19%. On average, analysts forecast that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current year.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 4th will be issued a $0.545 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 4th. This represents a $2.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.62%. 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.