AE Wealth Management LLC Has $4.12 Million Stake in MetLife, Inc. $MET

AE Wealth Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 16.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 49,977 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 9,793 shares during the period. AE Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in MetLife were worth $4,117,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in MetLife during the 2nd quarter worth $756,104,000. Pzena Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of MetLife by 6.8% in the second quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 9,144,635 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $735,412,000 after purchasing an additional 585,671 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of MetLife by 2.5% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,624,582 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $532,749,000 after purchasing an additional 162,041 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in MetLife by 2.0% during the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,512,620 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $367,643,000 after purchasing an additional 86,519 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi grew its position in MetLife by 40.2% in the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 4,507,362 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $361,265,000 after purchasing an additional 1,292,107 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on MET shares. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of MetLife in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Morgan Stanley set a $101.00 price target on MetLife and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 15th. UBS Group dropped their price target on MetLife from $95.00 to $94.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Mizuho set a $102.00 price objective on MetLife in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. Finally, Evercore ISI set a $97.00 target price on MetLife and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $95.27.

MetLife Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MET opened at $78.84 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 0.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $78.77 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $78.81. MetLife, Inc. has a 1-year low of $65.21 and a 1-year high of $87.50. The firm has a market cap of $51.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 0.76.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The financial services provider reported $2.37 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.07. MetLife had a return on equity of 21.00% and a net margin of 5.30%.The firm had revenue of $12.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.95 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.5675 per share. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 3rd. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 42.75%.

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.