MetLife Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:MET)

MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Investors purchased 18,387 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 55% compared to the typical daily volume of 11,872 call options.

MetLife Price Performance

MET traded down $0.59 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $63.18. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 951,594 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,907,223. The company has a quick ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 0.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $47.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 1.09. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $61.12 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $59.09. MetLife has a 12 month low of $48.95 and a 12 month high of $77.36.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 2nd. The financial services provider reported $1.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.09. MetLife had a return on equity of 17.42% and a net margin of 3.14%. The business had revenue of $16.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.91 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.00 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that MetLife will post 7.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 7th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.29%. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 80.93%.

Insider Transactions at MetLife

In other news, EVP Marlene Debel sold 9,391 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.18, for a total transaction of $593,323.38. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 77,638 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,905,168.84. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.32% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Portside Wealth Group LLC acquired a new stake in MetLife in the second quarter worth about $736,000. Garde Capital Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of MetLife during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $460,000. Osaic Holdings Inc. raised its stake in shares of MetLife by 4.7% during the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 286,151 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $16,185,000 after buying an additional 12,759 shares during the last quarter. Principal Street Partners LLC boosted its stake in MetLife by 18.4% in the second quarter. Principal Street Partners LLC now owns 7,893 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $446,000 after acquiring an additional 1,226 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Humankind Investments LLC acquired a new stake in MetLife during the 2nd quarter worth $656,000. Institutional investors own 88.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on MET. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on MetLife from $78.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 18th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of MetLife in a report on Thursday, August 17th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. TheStreet raised shares of MetLife from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on MetLife from $82.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 15th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on MetLife from $70.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 4th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $77.40.

MetLife Company Profile

MetLife, Inc, a financial services company, provides insurance, annuities, employee benefits, and asset management services worldwide. It operates through five segments: U.S.; 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.