E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB Trims Stock Position in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB cut its stake in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 6.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 24,446 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,700 shares during the quarter. E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB’s holdings in MetLife were worth $2,016,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in MetLife by 3.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,622,348 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,418,612,000 after buying an additional 1,974,268 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in MetLife by 22.4% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,396,274 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $378,799,000 after buying an additional 988,666 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc increased its holdings in MetLife by 5.4% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,299,800 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $371,993,000 after buying an additional 269,246 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in MetLife by 3.2% in the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,224,930 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $226,358,000 after purchasing an additional 100,782 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in MetLife by 4.1% in the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,772,751 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $205,544,000 after purchasing an additional 108,739 shares during the last quarter. 89.81% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MET has been the topic of several analyst reports. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of MetLife in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $91.00 price target on the stock. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of MetLife from $85.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of MetLife from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of MetLife from $86.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Finally, TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of MetLife in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. They set a “buy” rating and a $97.00 price objective for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, MetLife currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $88.46.

MetLife Trading Down 2.3 %

NYSE MET opened at $82.39 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $58.59 billion, a PE ratio of 28.31, a P/E/G ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a fifty day moving average of $79.62 and a 200 day moving average of $74.43. MetLife, Inc. has a 1 year low of $57.91 and a 1 year high of $86.94. 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 (NYSE:MET) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $2.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.13 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $17.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.57 billion. MetLife had a net margin of 4.23% and a return on equity of 21.41%. The firm’s quarterly 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. Research analysts forecast that MetLife, Inc. will post 8.58 earnings per share for the current year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 5th will be given a $0.545 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 5th. This represents a $2.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.65%. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.