Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Sells 5,919 Shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund reduced its stake in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 5.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 110,511 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 5,919 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in MetLife were worth $9,049,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of MetLife by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC now owns 33,598 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,751,000 after acquiring an additional 367 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in MetLife by 109.2% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,826,658 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $722,727,000 after acquiring an additional 4,606,748 shares during the period. BankPlus Trust Department acquired a new position in shares of MetLife in the 4th quarter worth approximately $103,000. Rothschild Investment LLC raised its stake in MetLife by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 71,535 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,857,000 after acquiring an additional 696 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Crestwood Advisors Group LLC increased its position in shares of MetLife by 21.0% during the 4th quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 5,730 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $469,000 after purchasing an additional 994 shares in the last quarter. 94.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on MET shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on MetLife from $100.00 to $98.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on shares of MetLife in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $97.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com lowered MetLife from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of MetLife from $96.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $92.58.

MetLife Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MET opened at $82.29 on Wednesday. MetLife, Inc. has a 52 week low of $67.30 and a 52 week high of $89.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $56.98 billion, a PE ratio of 13.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 1.07. 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 moving average price of $83.41 and a 200 day moving average price of $81.69.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last issued its 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 net margin of 6.19% and a return on equity of 20.42%. Analysts predict that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.545 per share. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 4th. MetLife’s payout ratio is 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.