State of Michigan Retirement System Sells 2,000 Shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

State of Michigan Retirement System lowered its position in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 1.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 181,956 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,000 shares during the quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System’s holdings in MetLife were worth $13,485,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MET. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in MetLife in the fourth quarter worth about $558,460,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 700,788 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in MetLife by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,878,238 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $256,468,000 after purchasing an additional 104,116 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in shares of MetLife by 9.9% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,664,012 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $176,304,000 after buying an additional 240,564 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp grew its position in shares of MetLife by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 2,005,738 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $132,641,000 after buying an additional 35,782 shares during the last quarter. 89.81% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MET has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on MetLife from $86.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 10th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on shares of MetLife from $88.00 to $83.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Argus upped their target price on MetLife from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 22nd. StockNews.com cut MetLife from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on MetLife from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $80.23.

MetLife Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of MetLife stock opened at $70.04 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $71.26 and a two-hundred day moving average of $70.18. The stock has a market cap of $49.81 billion, a PE ratio of 24.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a current ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. MetLife, Inc. has a 12-month low of $56.13 and a 12-month high of $74.68.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The financial services provider reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.83. The firm had revenue of $17.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.73 billion. MetLife had a net margin of 3.50% and a return on equity of 20.39%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.52 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that MetLife, Inc. will post 8.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

MetLife Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 7th were issued a $0.545 dividend. This is a boost from MetLife’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 6th. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.11%. MetLife’s payout ratio is 74.91%.

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.