Weaver C. Barksdale & Associates Inc. Sells 438 Shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Weaver C. Barksdale & Associates Inc. lessened its stake in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 27,450 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 438 shares during the quarter. MetLife accounts for about 1.8% of Weaver C. Barksdale & Associates Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest position. Weaver C. Barksdale & Associates Inc.’s holdings in MetLife were worth $1,927,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of MetLife by 3.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,622,348 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,418,612,000 after acquiring an additional 1,974,268 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in MetLife by 22.4% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,396,274 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $378,799,000 after purchasing an additional 988,666 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in MetLife by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,224,930 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $226,358,000 after buying an additional 100,782 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in shares of MetLife by 4.1% during the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,772,751 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $205,544,000 after purchasing an additional 108,739 shares during the period. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its stake in MetLife by 29.7% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 2,120,275 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $157,133,000 after buying an additional 485,811 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.81% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MET has been the subject of several recent research reports. Bank of America reduced their price objective on MetLife from $99.00 to $96.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of MetLife from $83.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. StockNews.com cut shares of MetLife from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on MetLife from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on shares of MetLife from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MetLife currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $84.54.

MetLife Stock Up 2.3 %

MET stock opened at $81.09 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $57.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a current ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $74.51 and a 200-day moving average price of $72.54. MetLife, Inc. has a 12 month low of $57.91 and a 12 month high of $81.39.

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

MetLife Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 6th were paid a $0.545 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 6th. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.69%. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio is currently 74.91%.

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.