MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) Shares Sold by Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc.

Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 3.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,323 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 729 shares during the quarter. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in MetLife were worth $1,582,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MET. CX Institutional lifted its stake in MetLife by 15.9% in the 4th quarter. CX Institutional now owns 68,005 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,568,000 after purchasing an additional 9,337 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in MetLife by 109.2% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,826,658 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $722,727,000 after buying an additional 4,606,748 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in MetLife by 27.3% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 13,692 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,116,000 after buying an additional 2,940 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its holdings in MetLife by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 776,244 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $63,559,000 after buying an additional 12,723 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of MetLife during the 4th quarter worth $259,000. 94.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on MET shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of MetLife from $92.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on MetLife from $101.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. StockNews.com cut MetLife from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of MetLife in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of MetLife from $86.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, MetLife currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $94.58.

MetLife Trading Down 4.6 %

MET opened at $79.19 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $83.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $82.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.16 and a quick ratio of 0.16. MetLife, Inc. has a 12 month low of $67.30 and a 12 month high of $89.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $53.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.27, a PEG ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 1.04.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The financial services provider reported $2.08 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.13 by ($0.05). MetLife had a return on equity of 20.42% and a net margin of 6.19%. Sell-side analysts expect that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 4th were paid a $0.545 dividend. This represents a $2.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.75%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 4th. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.52%.

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.