Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Sells 13,152 Shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lowered its position in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 1.0% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,289,383 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 13,152 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned about 0.18% of MetLife worth $90,502,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. GoalVest Advisory LLC grew its position in MetLife by 73.3% during the 1st quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 390 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of MetLife in the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. Bank & Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of MetLife in the 2nd quarter valued at about $39,000. Crewe Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of MetLife by 602.5% in the 2nd quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 562 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 482 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC grew its position in shares of MetLife by 72.6% in the 2nd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 568 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 239 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.81% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on MetLife from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. StockNews.com lowered MetLife from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on MetLife from $86.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on MetLife from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on MetLife from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, MetLife has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $84.54.

MetLife Stock Up 1.2 %

MET stock opened at $79.25 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $74.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $72.48. MetLife, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $57.91 and a fifty-two week high of $79.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a current ratio of 0.16. The company has a market cap of $56.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 1.04.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $2.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.13 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $17.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.57 billion. MetLife had a return on equity of 21.41% and a net margin of 4.23%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.94 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that MetLife, Inc. will post 8.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 6th were paid a $0.545 dividend. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 6th. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 74.91%.

About MetLife

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.