Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd. Lowers Position in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd. trimmed its position in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 29.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 10,905 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 4,655 shares during the quarter. Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in MetLife were worth $765,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MET. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in MetLife by 3.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,622,348 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,418,612,000 after purchasing an additional 1,974,268 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in MetLife by 22.4% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,396,274 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $378,799,000 after acquiring an additional 988,666 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in MetLife by 3.2% in 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 acquiring an additional 100,782 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in 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 acquiring an additional 108,739 shares during the period. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its holdings in MetLife by 29.7% during 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 purchasing an additional 485,811 shares in the last quarter. 89.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on MET shares. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of MetLife from $83.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on MetLife from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on MetLife from $86.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 8th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered MetLife from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $84.54.

MetLife Price Performance

MetLife stock opened at $80.85 on Friday. 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 company has a 50-day moving average price of $74.66 and a 200 day moving average price of $72.62. MetLife, Inc. has a 12-month low of $57.91 and a 12-month high of $81.39. The stock has a market cap of $57.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.78, a PEG ratio of 0.61 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 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.13 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $17.82 billion for 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 for the quarter was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.94 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that MetLife, Inc. will post 8.67 earnings per share for the current year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 6th were issued a dividend of $0.545 per share. This represents a $2.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.70%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 6th. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.