MetLife (NYSE:MET) Cut to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of MetLife (NYSE:MET) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday.

MET has been the topic of several other reports. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on MetLife from $83.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of MetLife from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of MetLife from $86.00 to $85.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of MetLife from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on shares of MetLife from $86.00 to $85.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, MetLife presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $84.54.

MetLife Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MET opened at $75.47 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $73.73 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $72.22. The stock has a market cap of $53.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.93, a PEG ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a current ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. MetLife has a 12 month low of $57.91 and a 12 month high of $79.34.

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

MetLife Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 6th were issued a dividend of $0.545 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 6th. This represents a $2.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.89%. MetLife’s payout ratio is currently 74.91%.

Institutional Trading of MetLife

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in MetLife by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,622,348 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,418,612,000 after purchasing an additional 1,974,268 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of MetLife in the fourth quarter valued at about $558,460,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of MetLife by 22.4% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,396,274 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $378,799,000 after buying an additional 988,666 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in shares of MetLife by 5.4% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,299,800 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $371,993,000 after buying an additional 269,246 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in MetLife by 3.2% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,224,930 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $226,358,000 after acquiring an additional 100,782 shares during the last quarter. 89.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.