Blair William & Co. IL Sells 2,156 Shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Blair William & Co. IL cut its stake in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 2.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 90,713 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,156 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings in MetLife were worth $6,367,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp purchased a new position in shares of MetLife during the first quarter worth approximately $7,012,000. National Bank of Canada FI raised its position in MetLife by 54.9% during the 1st quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 371,062 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,983,000 after purchasing an additional 131,538 shares in the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of MetLife by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 2,005,738 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $132,641,000 after buying an additional 35,782 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of MetLife during the 1st quarter worth $1,053,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of MetLife by 2,313.7% during the first quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 104,877 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,772,000 after buying an additional 100,532 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.81% of the company’s stock.

MetLife Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MET opened at $80.85 on Friday. MetLife, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $57.91 and a fifty-two week high of $81.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a current ratio of 0.16. The company has a market cap of $57.49 billion, a PE ratio of 27.78, a P/E/G ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 1.04. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $74.66 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $72.62.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $2.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.13 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $17.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.57 billion. MetLife had a net margin of 4.23% and a return on equity of 21.41%. MetLife’s revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.94 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that MetLife, Inc. will post 8.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 6th were given a $0.545 dividend. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.70%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 6th. MetLife’s payout ratio is 74.91%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have issued reports on MET shares. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of MetLife from $86.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 19th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of MetLife from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. StockNews.com lowered MetLife from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Bank of America cut their price target on MetLife from $99.00 to $96.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on MetLife from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $84.54.

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.