MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) Position Lowered by Payden & Rygel

Payden & Rygel reduced its position in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 49.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 172,400 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 168,500 shares during the quarter. Payden & Rygel’s holdings in MetLife were worth $14,116,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MET. Wedbush Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of MetLife by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. now owns 11,850 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $970,000 after buying an additional 551 shares during the period. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC lifted its holdings in MetLife by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC now owns 15,864 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,299,000 after acquiring an additional 1,044 shares during the last quarter. Sit Investment Associates Inc. acquired a new position in MetLife in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $5,151,000. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of MetLife during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $14,002,000. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company MN boosted its position in MetLife by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 1,651,944 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $135,261,000 after purchasing an additional 12,799 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on MET shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on MetLife from $92.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of MetLife from $88.00 to $86.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of MetLife in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on MetLife from $101.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on MetLife from $96.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $94.85.

MetLife Stock Down 9.5 %

MET opened at $68.71 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a current ratio of 0.16. The company has a market capitalization of $46.81 billion, a PE ratio of 11.51, a P/E/G ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 0.89. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $82.41 and its 200-day moving average is $82.90. MetLife, Inc. has a one year low of $67.30 and a one year high of $89.05.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The financial services provider reported $2.08 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.13 by ($0.05). MetLife had a return on equity of 20.42% and a net margin of 6.19%. On average, equities analysts predict that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 4th were issued a dividend of $0.545 per share. This represents a $2.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 4th. MetLife’s payout ratio is 36.52%.

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.