MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) Shares Sold by Yousif Capital Management LLC

Yousif Capital Management LLC lowered its holdings in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 4.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 99,425 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 4,481 shares during the period. Yousif Capital Management LLC’s holdings in MetLife were worth $6,575,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MET. Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in MetLife by 118.1% in the third quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 10,108,992 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $635,957,000 after acquiring an additional 5,474,449 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of MetLife by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,440,583 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $468,087,000 after buying an additional 276,364 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of MetLife by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,829,965 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $366,763,000 after buying an additional 17,375 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of MetLife by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,774,122 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $237,430,000 after buying an additional 22,031 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of MetLife by 15.3% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,724,805 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $234,327,000 after buying an additional 495,027 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.81% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MET. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of MetLife from $87.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of MetLife from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of MetLife from $83.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of MetLife from $82.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of MetLife from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $70.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, MetLife has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $79.23.

Insider Transactions at MetLife

In other news, EVP Bill Pappas sold 27,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.27, for a total transaction of $1,951,290.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 57,768 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,174,893.36. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Bill Pappas sold 27,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.27, for a total transaction of $1,951,290.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 57,768 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,174,893.36. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Ramy Tadros sold 4,026 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.90, for a total transaction of $289,469.40. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 146,981 shares in the company, valued at $10,567,933.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

MetLife Stock Performance

Shares of MET opened at $71.90 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a current ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $51.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.29, a P/E/G ratio of 0.55 and a beta of 1.04. The company’s fifty day moving average is $71.41 and its two-hundred day moving average is $67.09. MetLife, Inc. has a 1 year low of $48.95 and a 1 year high of $74.68.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 31st. The financial services provider reported $1.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.95 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $18.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.07 billion. MetLife had a net margin of 2.36% and a return on equity of 19.48%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that MetLife, Inc. will post 8.71 earnings per share for the current year.

MetLife Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.545 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 6th. This is a boost from MetLife’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.03%. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio is 113.66%.

MetLife Company Profile

MetLife, Inc, a financial services company, provides insurance, annuities, employee benefits, and asset management services worldwide. It operates through six segments: Retirement and Income Solutions; Group Benefits; Asia; Latin America; Europe, the Middle East and Africa; and MetLife Holdings. The company offers life, dental, group short-and long-term disability, individual disability, pet insurance, accidental death and dismemberment, vision, and accident and health coverages, as well as prepaid legal plans; administrative services-only arrangements to employers; and general and separate account, and synthetic guaranteed interest contracts, as well as private floating rate funding agreements.