First National Bank of South Miami Cuts Holdings in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

First National Bank of South Miami cut its stake in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 10.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,082 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 460 shares during the quarter. First National Bank of South Miami’s holdings in MetLife were worth $231,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dodge & Cox increased its position 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 valued at $3,132,802,000 after purchasing an additional 486,544 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in MetLife by 7.5% in the first 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 buying an additional 1,930,271 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in MetLife by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 11,584,674 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $838,383,000 after buying an additional 418,477 shares in the last quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. lifted its holdings in MetLife by 6.2% during the 1st quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 7,466,099 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $432,585,000 after buying an additional 436,260 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of MetLife in the 4th quarter valued at about $444,205,000. 88.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MetLife Stock Performance

Shares of MET opened at $66.31 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $49.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.80, a P/E/G ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.13 and a current ratio of 0.13. MetLife, Inc. has a 1 year low of $48.95 and a 1 year high of $77.36. The company’s fifty day moving average is $62.30 and its two-hundred day moving average is $58.67.

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

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 14th. Investors 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.14%. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 80.93%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MetLife news, EVP Marlene Debel sold 9,391 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 owns 77,638 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,905,168.84. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.32% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on MET. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of MetLife from $70.00 to $74.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 4th. Jefferies Financial Group raised MetLife from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $58.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 13th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on MetLife from $78.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 18th. Argus increased their price objective on MetLife from $70.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 14th. Finally, TheStreet raised shares of MetLife from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Thursday, August 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, MetLife currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $76.40.

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.