KBC Group NV Reduces Position in MetLife, Inc. $MET

KBC Group NV reduced its position in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 24.9% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,361,677 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 451,034 shares during the quarter. KBC Group NV owned 0.20% of MetLife worth $109,506,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MET. CENTRAL TRUST Co lifted its stake in MetLife by 8.9% in the second quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 11,263 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $906,000 after acquiring an additional 925 shares during the period. Vise Technologies Inc. bought a new position in MetLife in the second quarter worth approximately $1,745,000. Allworth Financial LP boosted its position in MetLife by 13.4% during the 2nd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 10,893 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $876,000 after acquiring an additional 1,285 shares in the last quarter. Davis R M Inc. increased its holdings in shares of MetLife by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter. Davis R M Inc. now owns 3,497 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $281,000 after acquiring an additional 182 shares during the period. Finally, Fidelis Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of MetLife by 5.2% during the 2nd quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,613 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $274,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

MetLife Trading Up 0.7%

MET opened at $77.74 on Wednesday. MetLife, Inc. has a 1-year low of $65.21 and a 1-year high of $89.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $51.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.16 and a quick ratio of 0.16. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $79.90 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $78.89.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The financial services provider reported $2.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $12.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.64 billion. MetLife had a return on equity of 19.88% and a net margin of 5.83%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.95 earnings per share. Analysts expect that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 9th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 4th will be given a dividend of $0.5675 per share. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 4th. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.75%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of MetLife from $100.00 to $103.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of MetLife from $93.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Piper Sandler downgraded MetLife from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $84.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Friday, September 19th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of MetLife from $96.00 to $92.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their target price on MetLife from $96.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $95.00.

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.