Inceptionr LLC Reduces Stock Position in MetLife, Inc. $MET

Inceptionr LLC decreased its holdings in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 71.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,237 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 8,263 shares during the period. Inceptionr LLC’s holdings in MetLife were worth $267,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in MetLife by 13.3% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,749,521 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,333,418,000 after buying an additional 7,578,199 shares during the period. Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its position in MetLife by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 9,672,023 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $796,685,000 after buying an additional 527,388 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in MetLife in the 2nd quarter worth about $756,104,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of MetLife by 6.0% during the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,489,588 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $616,896,000 after acquiring an additional 424,773 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its stake 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 acquiring an additional 162,041 shares in the last quarter. 94.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MET has been the subject of a number of research reports. Barclays set a $90.00 price target on MetLife in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on MetLife from $101.00 to $93.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on MetLife from $97.00 to $93.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. TD Cowen cut their price target on MetLife from $91.00 to $88.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded MetLife from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Monday. Two 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $93.67.

MetLife Stock Down 1.8%

MetLife stock opened at $68.71 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 0.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The firm has a market cap of $44.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.62, a P/E/G ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 0.76. The business has a fifty day moving average of $76.44 and a two-hundred day moving average of $78.46. MetLife, Inc. has a twelve month low of $65.21 and a twelve month high of $85.00.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.34 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $52.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $31.43 billion. MetLife had a return on equity of 21.81% and a net margin of 4.38%.The business’s revenue was up 27.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.08 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 3rd were paid a $0.5675 dividend. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 3rd. MetLife’s payout ratio is 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.