Carret Asset Management LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Carret Asset Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 1.2% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 55,969 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 700 shares during the period. Carret Asset Management LLC’s holdings in MetLife were worth $4,148,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Gotham Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in MetLife by 325.8% in the third quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 33,160 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,086,000 after buying an additional 25,373 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of MetLife by 66.5% during the 3rd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 99,483 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,258,000 after purchasing an additional 39,719 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in MetLife by 14.2% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,113,967 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $70,080,000 after purchasing an additional 138,362 shares during the last quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of MetLife by 171.6% during the third quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 27,834 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,751,000 after buying an additional 17,584 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Evergreen Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of MetLife by 19.7% in the third quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 6,081 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $383,000 after buying an additional 1,001 shares during the period. 89.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on MetLife from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of MetLife from $86.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 10th. StockNews.com cut shares of MetLife from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. Argus increased their target price on shares of MetLife from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on MetLife from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $80.23.

MetLife Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of MET stock traded up $0.12 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $70.16. 2,235,842 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,385,685. The company has a quick ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $71.22 and its 200-day moving average price is $70.20. The company has a market cap of $49.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.40, a P/E/G ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 1.11. MetLife, Inc. has a 12 month low of $56.13 and a 12 month high of $74.68.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The financial services provider reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.83. MetLife had a net margin of 3.50% and a return on equity of 20.39%. The business had revenue of $17.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.73 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.52 earnings per share. MetLife’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that MetLife, Inc. will post 8.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 7th were issued a $0.545 dividend. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.11%. This is an increase from MetLife’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 6th. MetLife’s payout ratio is 74.91%.

MetLife declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, May 1st that authorizes the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to buy up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.