Wright Investors Service Inc. Cuts Stake in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Wright Investors Service Inc. reduced its position in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 6.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 20,183 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,388 shares during the period. Wright Investors Service Inc.’s holdings in MetLife were worth $1,335,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in MetLife by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 11,584,674 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $838,383,000 after purchasing an additional 418,477 shares during the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in MetLife by 118.1% in the third quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 10,108,992 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $635,957,000 after purchasing an additional 5,474,449 shares during the last quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. grew its holdings in MetLife by 6.2% in the first quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 7,466,099 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $432,585,000 after purchasing an additional 436,260 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of MetLife by 3.9% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,440,583 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $468,087,000 after buying an additional 276,364 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of MetLife during the fourth quarter worth $444,205,000. 89.81% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on MET. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of MetLife from $83.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of MetLife from $87.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of MetLife from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $70.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of MetLife from $82.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of MetLife from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $79.23.

MetLife Price Performance

Shares of MetLife stock traded up $1.06 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $69.98. The stock had a trading volume of 514,656 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,532,211. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $70.98 and its 200 day moving average is $66.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $50.60 billion, a PE ratio of 37.66, a PEG ratio of 0.52 and a beta of 1.04. MetLife, Inc. has a twelve month low of $48.95 and a twelve month high of $74.68. The company has a current ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 31st. The financial services provider reported $1.93 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.95 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $18.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.07 billion. MetLife had a return on equity of 19.48% and a net margin of 2.36%. Equities analysts expect that MetLife, Inc. will post 8.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Bill Pappas sold 27,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.27, for a total transaction of $1,951,290.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 57,768 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,174,893.36. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Bill Pappas sold 27,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.27, for a total transaction of $1,951,290.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 57,768 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,174,893.36. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Ramy Tadros sold 4,026 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.90, for a total transaction of $289,469.40. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 146,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,567,933.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

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.