Wambolt & Associates LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Wambolt & Associates LLC cut its holdings in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 3.0% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 7,030 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 217 shares during the period. Wambolt & Associates LLC’s holdings in MetLife were worth $491,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MET. GoalVest Advisory LLC increased its stake in MetLife by 73.3% during the 1st quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 390 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 165 shares during the period. Pineridge Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of MetLife in the fourth quarter worth $39,000. Bank & Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of MetLife during the second quarter worth $39,000. Crewe Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of MetLife by 602.5% in the second quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 562 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 482 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in MetLife by 72.6% in the second quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 568 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 239 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.81% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MET has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on MetLife from $86.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 8th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of MetLife from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of MetLife from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of MetLife from $83.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of MetLife from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $84.54.

MetLife Trading Up 0.1 %

NYSE:MET opened at $74.74 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. MetLife, Inc. has a 52-week low of $57.91 and a 52-week high of $79.34. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $73.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $72.20. The company has a market capitalization of $53.15 billion, a PE ratio of 25.68, a P/E/G ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 1.04.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $2.28 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.13 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $17.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.57 billion. MetLife had a net margin of 4.23% and a return on equity of 21.41%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.94 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that MetLife, Inc. will post 8.67 EPS for the current year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 6th were paid a dividend of $0.545 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 6th. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.92%. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 74.91%.

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.