AustralianSuper Pty Ltd Reduces Stake in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

AustralianSuper Pty Ltd reduced its holdings in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 7.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,851,266 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 140,432 shares during the quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd’s holdings in MetLife were worth $151,582,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MET. MeadowBrook Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in MetLife by 244.4% in the 3rd quarter. MeadowBrook Investment Advisors LLC now owns 310 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 220 shares during the last quarter. Carmichael Hill & Associates Inc. increased its stake in MetLife by 131.9% in the 3rd quarter. Carmichael Hill & Associates Inc. now owns 327 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC increased its stake in MetLife by 374.3% in the 3rd quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 351 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 277 shares during the last quarter. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in MetLife in the 3rd quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new position in MetLife in the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. 94.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on MET shares. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on MetLife from $93.00 to $92.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on MetLife from $100.00 to $98.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. StockNews.com lowered MetLife from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on MetLife from $97.00 to $99.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on MetLife from $96.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, MetLife currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $92.17.

MetLife Trading Down 0.7 %

NYSE MET opened at $81.78 on Friday. MetLife, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $67.30 and a fifty-two week high of $89.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a current ratio of 0.16. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $83.47 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $81.01. The stock has a market cap of $56.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 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 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 9.63 earnings per share for the current year.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 4th will be paid a $0.545 dividend. This represents a $2.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.67%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 4th. MetLife’s payout ratio is presently 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.