Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY Sells 772 Shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY cut its holdings in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 5.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 14,097 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 772 shares during the quarter. Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY’s holdings in MetLife were worth $797,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Dodge & Cox grew its stake in shares of MetLife by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 54,069,754 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,132,802,000 after buying an additional 486,544 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of MetLife by 7.5% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 27,540,294 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,595,686,000 after acquiring an additional 1,930,271 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its position in MetLife by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 11,584,674 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $838,383,000 after acquiring an additional 418,477 shares in the last quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. raised its position in MetLife by 6.2% during the first quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 7,466,099 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $432,585,000 after purchasing an additional 436,260 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of MetLife in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $444,205,000. Institutional investors own 88.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Argus boosted their target price on MetLife from $70.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 14th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of MetLife from $82.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 15th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of MetLife from $70.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 4th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of MetLife in a report on Thursday, August 17th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded MetLife from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $58.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MetLife currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $76.40.

MetLife Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:MET opened at $66.31 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 0.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The company has a market capitalization of $49.86 billion, a PE ratio of 25.80, a P/E/G ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 1.09. MetLife, Inc. has a 12-month low of $48.95 and a 12-month high of $77.36. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $62.30 and its 200-day simple moving average is $58.67.

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

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 8th were paid a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 7th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.14%. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 80.93%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other MetLife news, EVP Marlene Debel sold 9,391 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.18, for a total value of $593,323.38. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 77,638 shares in the company, valued at $4,905,168.84. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

MetLife 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.