MetLife, Inc. $MET Shares Sold by Mizuho Markets Cayman LP

Mizuho Markets Cayman LP reduced its stake in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 71.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,563 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 26,734 shares during the quarter. Mizuho Markets Cayman LP’s holdings in MetLife were worth $870,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of MET. Norges Bank purchased a new position in MetLife during the 2nd quarter worth $756,104,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of MetLife by 13.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,749,521 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,333,418,000 after acquiring an additional 7,578,199 shares in the last quarter. ABN AMRO Bank N.V. acquired a new position in shares of MetLife during the second quarter worth about $178,669,000. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in MetLife by 105.3% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,305,620 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $271,424,000 after purchasing an additional 1,695,563 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi lifted its position in MetLife by 40.2% in the second quarter. Amundi now owns 4,507,362 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $361,265,000 after purchasing an additional 1,292,107 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on MET. Barclays set a $90.00 price objective on MetLife in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target 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 decreased 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, March 11th. Weiss Ratings cut MetLife from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Finally, Mizuho set a $100.00 target price on MetLife in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $93.67.

MetLife Trading Up 1.8%

Shares of MetLife stock opened at $69.21 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $75.95 and a two-hundred day moving average of $78.25. MetLife, Inc. has a 12-month low of $65.21 and a 12-month high of $85.00. The company has a current ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 0.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The stock has a market cap of $45.13 billion, a PE ratio of 14.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 0.76.

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

MetLife Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 3rd were issued a $0.5675 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 3rd. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio is 48.30%.

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.