MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) Shares Sold by Hancock Whitney Corp

Hancock Whitney Corp trimmed its stake in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 5.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 43,641 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,508 shares during the quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp’s holdings in MetLife were worth $3,063,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in MetLife by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,622,348 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,418,612,000 after purchasing an additional 1,974,268 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of MetLife by 22.4% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,396,274 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $378,799,000 after purchasing an additional 988,666 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of MetLife by 3.2% during 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 buying an additional 100,782 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in shares of 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 valued at $205,544,000 after buying an additional 108,739 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of MetLife by 29.7% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 2,120,275 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $157,133,000 after buying an additional 485,811 shares during the period. 89.81% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MetLife Trading Down 0.3 %

NYSE MET opened at $80.85 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $57.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.78, a PEG ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a current ratio of 0.16. MetLife, Inc. has a one year low of $57.91 and a one year high of $81.39. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $74.66 and its 200 day moving average price is $72.63.

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

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 6th were given a $0.545 dividend. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 6th. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 74.91%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MET has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barclays assumed coverage on shares of MetLife in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $91.00 target price for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on MetLife from $86.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 8th. Bank of America reduced their target price on MetLife from $99.00 to $96.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. StockNews.com cut MetLife from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of MetLife from $86.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 19th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $84.54.

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.