MetLife, Inc. $MET Shares Sold by Wedge Capital Management L L P NC

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC decreased its holdings in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 8.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 395,044 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 36,275 shares during the quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC’s holdings in MetLife were worth $31,185,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its position in shares of MetLife by 1,169.9% in the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 158,286 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $12,495,000 after acquiring an additional 145,822 shares in the last quarter. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC boosted its position in MetLife by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC now owns 61,127 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,825,000 after purchasing an additional 1,390 shares during the period. Accurate Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in MetLife by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. Accurate Wealth Management LLC now owns 19,475 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,547,000 after purchasing an additional 1,338 shares in the last quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC increased its holdings in MetLife by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 24,390 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,925,000 after purchasing an additional 247 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Butensky & Cohen Financial Security Inc. raised its position in MetLife by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Butensky & Cohen Financial Security Inc. now owns 67,912 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,361,000 after purchasing an additional 1,595 shares during the period. 94.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on MET shares. Barclays set a $90.00 target price on MetLife in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Weiss Ratings lowered MetLife from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a “moderate buy” rating and issued a $87.00 price target on shares of MetLife in a report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of MetLife from $101.00 to $93.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of MetLife from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, MetLife has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $93.42.

MetLife Price Performance

MET stock opened at $67.63 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 0.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. MetLife, Inc. has a 52-week low of $65.21 and a 52-week high of $83.85. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $74.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $77.55. The company has a market capitalization of $44.10 billion, a PE ratio of 14.39, a P/E/G ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 0.76.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.49 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.34 by $0.15. MetLife had a return on equity of 21.81% and a net margin of 4.38%.The company had revenue of $52.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $31.43 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.08 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 27.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.5675 per share. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 3rd. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio is 48.30%.

About MetLife

MetLife, Inc is a global provider of insurance, annuities and employee benefit programs. Headquartered in New York City, the company offers a range of risk protection and retirement solutions to individuals, employers and institutional clients. Its core businesses include life insurance, group benefits, retirement products such as annuities, and supplemental health products including dental and disability coverage.

In addition to traditional life and group insurance, MetLife provides workplace benefits and voluntary products distributed through employer-sponsored programs.