MetLife, Inc. $MET Stake Cut by Wellington Management Group LLP

Wellington Management Group LLP lessened its holdings in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 11.0% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 3,404,495 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 420,501 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP’s holdings in MetLife were worth $288,054,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MET. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of MetLife in the 2nd quarter worth about $4,381,692,000. Pzena Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of MetLife during the 2nd quarter valued at about $941,792,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of MetLife during the 4th quarter valued at about $639,986,000. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake in MetLife during the second quarter worth about $455,424,000. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc bought a new position in MetLife in the second quarter worth about $326,904,000. Institutional investors own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on MET shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on MetLife from $101.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. UBS Group raised their price target on MetLife from $102.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on MetLife from $97.00 to $103.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Weiss Ratings raised MetLife from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Monday, June 15th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their target price on MetLife from $87.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MetLife has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $102.21.

MetLife Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MET opened at $96.57 on Monday. MetLife, Inc. has a 12-month low of $67.33 and a 12-month high of $100.93. The company has a market cap of $62.14 billion, a PE ratio of 18.50, a P/E/G ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 0.78. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $93.39 and a 200-day simple moving average of $82.88. The company has a current ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 0.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The financial services provider reported $2.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.13. MetLife had a return on equity of 23.39% and a net margin of 4.57%.The firm had revenue of $13.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.67 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.02 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.74 EPS for the current year.

MetLife announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, August 5th that permits the company to buyback $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to buy up to 4.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 8th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 4th will be paid a $0.5925 dividend. This represents a $2.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 4th. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio is currently 45.40%.

MetLife Profile

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.