MetLife, Inc. $MET Shares Sold by Aberdeen Group plc

Aberdeen Group plc reduced its stake in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 8.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 816,287 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 75,275 shares during the quarter. Aberdeen Group plc owned about 0.12% of MetLife worth $66,564,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of MetLife during the second quarter worth $756,104,000. ABN AMRO Bank N.V. purchased a new position in MetLife in the 2nd quarter worth $178,669,000. Amundi lifted its position in MetLife by 40.2% during the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 4,507,362 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $361,265,000 after acquiring an additional 1,292,107 shares during the period. Man Group plc grew its stake in MetLife by 325.5% during the 2nd quarter. Man Group plc now owns 1,344,551 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $108,129,000 after purchasing an additional 1,028,554 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of MetLife by 1,028.2% in the second quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 856,905 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $68,912,000 after purchasing an additional 780,955 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Evercore ISI set a $95.00 target price on MetLife in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of MetLife from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Barclays set a $90.00 price objective on shares of MetLife in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Morgan Stanley set a $101.00 target price on shares of MetLife and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on shares of MetLife from $92.00 to $90.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $95.42.

MetLife Price Performance

NYSE:MET opened at $77.26 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 0.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. MetLife, Inc. has a 52 week low of $65.21 and a 52 week high of $87.39. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $78.92 and its 200-day moving average price is $78.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $50.91 billion, a PE ratio of 16.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 0.77.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.34 by $0.24. MetLife had a return on equity of 21.81% and a net margin of 4.38%.The company had revenue of $18.61 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $31.43 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.08 earnings per share. MetLife’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 3rd will be paid a $0.5675 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 3rd. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.30%.

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.