Legacy Capital Group California Inc. Has $347,000 Holdings in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Legacy Capital Group California Inc. reduced its position in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,203 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 174 shares during the period. Legacy Capital Group California Inc.’s holdings in MetLife were worth $347,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew 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. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of MetLife in the first quarter worth $131,456,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of MetLife by 7,837.0% during the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,129,353 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $79,250,000 after buying an additional 1,115,124 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position 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. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its stake in MetLife by 29.7% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 2,120,275 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $157,133,000 after acquiring an additional 485,811 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.81% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on MET. 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of MetLife from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of MetLife in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $91.00 target price for the company. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of MetLife from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $88.46.

MetLife Stock Performance

Shares of MET opened at $82.39 on Friday. 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, Inc. has a one year low of $57.91 and a one year high of $86.94. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $79.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $74.43. The company has a market capitalization of $58.59 billion, a PE ratio of 28.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.04.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $17.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 previous year, the company posted $1.94 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that MetLife, Inc. will post 8.58 earnings per share for the current year.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 5th will be paid a $0.545 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 5th. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.65%. MetLife’s payout ratio is 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.