Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY Has $1 Million Stock Holdings in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY trimmed its holdings in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 4.9% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 12,130 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 625 shares during the period. Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY’s holdings in MetLife were worth $1,000,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MET. Belpointe Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of MetLife by 11.4% in the fourth quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 7,217 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $477,000 after buying an additional 738 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC lifted its position in shares of MetLife by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC now owns 104,094 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,884,000 after buying an additional 4,857 shares during the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado lifted its position in shares of MetLife by 565.1% in the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 94,658 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,260,000 after buying an additional 80,426 shares during the last quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp lifted its position in shares of MetLife by 42.6% in the fourth quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 144,688 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,568,000 after buying an additional 43,232 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vinva Investment Management Ltd lifted its position in shares of MetLife by 19.2% in the fourth quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd now owns 22,838 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,514,000 after buying an additional 3,684 shares during the last quarter. 89.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MetLife Price Performance

NYSE MET traded up $2.78 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $84.04. The company had a trading volume of 4,905,746 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,352,342. The company has a market capitalization of $59.76 billion, a PE ratio of 28.88, a P/E/G ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a current ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $75.97 and a 200-day moving average price of $73.32. MetLife, Inc. has a twelve month low of $57.91 and a twelve month high of $84.26.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $2.28 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.13 by $0.15. MetLife had a return on equity of 21.41% and a net margin of 4.23%. The company had revenue of $17.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.94 EPS. MetLife’s revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that MetLife, Inc. will post 8.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 6th were issued a dividend of $0.545 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 6th. This represents a $2.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.59%. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 74.91%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on MET. StockNews.com lowered MetLife from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Citigroup increased their target price on MetLife from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Barclays began coverage on MetLife in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $91.00 target price on the stock. Bank of America lowered their target price on MetLife from $99.00 to $96.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on MetLife from $86.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $87.25.

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.