MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) Shares Sold by Arden Trust Co

Arden Trust Co lowered its position in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 3.6% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 4,113 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 154 shares during the quarter. Arden Trust Co’s holdings in MetLife were worth $289,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MET. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of MetLife in the 4th quarter valued at $558,460,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in MetLife by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,622,348 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,418,612,000 after purchasing an additional 1,974,268 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in MetLife in the first quarter valued at $131,456,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of MetLife by 20.9% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,053,851 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $268,090,000 after buying an additional 700,788 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of MetLife by 29.7% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 2,120,275 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $157,133,000 after buying an additional 485,811 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.81% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MET. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on MetLife from $86.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 10th. Bank of America decreased their price target on MetLife from $99.00 to $96.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Argus boosted their price objective on shares of MetLife from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of MetLife from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of MetLife from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $82.77.

MetLife Price Performance

Shares of MET stock traded up $0.13 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $68.73. 3,425,735 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,375,374. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $71.80 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $71.25. The firm has a market cap of $48.88 billion, a PE ratio of 23.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.16 and a quick ratio of 0.16. MetLife, Inc. has a 1-year low of $57.91 and a 1-year high of $79.34.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $2.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.13 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $17.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.57 billion. MetLife had a return on equity of 21.41% and a net margin of 4.23%. MetLife’s revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.94 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that MetLife, Inc. will post 8.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MetLife announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, May 1st that authorizes the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to reacquire up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 6th will be paid a $0.545 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 6th. This represents a $2.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.17%. MetLife’s payout ratio is 74.91%.

MetLife 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.