Cetera Investment Advisers Decreases Holdings in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Cetera Investment Advisers lowered its position in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 14.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 192,531 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 33,558 shares during the quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers’ holdings in MetLife were worth $13,514,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. GoalVest Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MetLife by 73.3% in the first quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 390 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. Bank & Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of MetLife during the 2nd quarter worth about $39,000. Rise Advisors LLC boosted its position in MetLife by 114.7% during the first quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 556 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 297 shares during the last quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC raised its holdings in MetLife by 602.5% in the 2nd quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 562 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 482 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of MetLife by 72.6% during the 2nd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 568 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 239 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.81% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MET. Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of MetLife from $99.00 to $96.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of MetLife from $86.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 8th. StockNews.com downgraded MetLife from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Citigroup lifted their target price on MetLife from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on MetLife from $86.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $87.25.

MetLife Stock Up 3.4 %

NYSE MET opened at $84.04 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. MetLife, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $57.91 and a fifty-two week high of $84.26. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $75.97 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $73.32. The stock has a market cap of $59.76 billion, a PE ratio of 28.88, a P/E/G ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.04.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $2.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.13 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $17.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.57 billion. MetLife had a net margin of 4.23% and a return on equity of 21.41%. The business’s revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.94 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that MetLife, Inc. will post 8.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 6th were issued a $0.545 dividend. This represents a $2.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.59%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 6th. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio is currently 74.91%.

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.