MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) Shares Sold by Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. reduced its holdings in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET – Get Rating) by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 19,450 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,380 shares during the quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in MetLife were worth $1,182,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Financial Advocates Investment Management boosted its stake in MetLife by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management now owns 3,697 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $224,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares in the last quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of MetLife by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,292 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $504,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Kaizen Financial Strategies boosted its stake in shares of MetLife by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Kaizen Financial Strategies now owns 10,800 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $656,000 after acquiring an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its stake in shares of MetLife by 5.7% during the 3rd quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 2,971 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $181,000 after acquiring an additional 160 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC boosted its stake in shares of MetLife by 26.4% during the 1st quarter. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC now owns 767 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 160 shares in the last quarter. 88.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at MetLife

In other news, EVP Bill Pappas sold 11,345 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.96, for a total value of $816,386.20. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 46,231 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,326,782.76. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, EVP Bill Pappas sold 11,345 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.96, for a total value of $816,386.20. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 46,231 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,326,782.76. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Susan M. Podlogar sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.91, for a total value of $215,730.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 46,193 shares in the company, valued at $3,321,738.63. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 17,202 shares of company stock worth $1,234,849 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on MET shares. Citigroup raised their price objective on MetLife from $77.00 to $84.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 16th. Jefferies Financial Group cut MetLife from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $86.00 to $82.00 in a research report on Friday, December 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on MetLife from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut MetLife from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $80.00 to $78.00 in a research report on Monday, January 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on MetLife from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 18th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, MetLife presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $80.36.

MetLife Price Performance

NYSE MET opened at $59.07 on Wednesday. MetLife, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $57.41 and a fifty-two week high of $77.36. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $70.50 and its two-hundred day moving average is $70.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.13 and a quick ratio of 0.13. The firm has a market cap of $45.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 1.08.

MetLife (NYSE:MET – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 1st. The financial services provider reported $1.55 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.74 by ($0.19). MetLife had a net margin of 3.63% and a return on equity of 15.64%. The company had revenue of $15.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.21 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.17 earnings per share. MetLife’s quarterly revenue was down 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that MetLife, Inc. will post 8.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 7th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 6th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.39%. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 68.26%.

MetLife Profile

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MetLife, Inc provides insurance and financial services to individual and institutional customers. It offers life insurance, annuities, automobile and homeowner’s insurance and retail banking services to individuals as well as group insurance, reinsurance and retirement and savings products and services.