MetLife, Inc. $MET Stock Position Trimmed by Ameritas Advisory Services LLC

Ameritas Advisory Services LLC trimmed its position in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 86.6% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,381 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 8,937 shares during the period. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in MetLife were worth $114,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in MET. Norges Bank bought a new position in MetLife in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $756,104,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of MetLife by 2.5% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,624,582 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $532,749,000 after purchasing an additional 162,041 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in shares of MetLife by 2.0% during the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,512,620 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $367,643,000 after purchasing an additional 86,519 shares during the period. Amundi raised its stake in shares of MetLife by 40.2% during the second quarter. Amundi now owns 4,507,362 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $361,265,000 after purchasing an additional 1,292,107 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB lifted its holdings in MetLife by 4.9% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 3,316,279 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $273,162,000 after purchasing an additional 154,889 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Barclays set a $90.00 target price on shares of MetLife in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of MetLife from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Weiss Ratings downgraded MetLife from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Evercore set a $95.00 price target on MetLife in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on MetLife from $92.00 to $90.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MetLife currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $95.27.

MetLife Trading Up 0.9%

MetLife stock opened at $79.27 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $52.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 0.77. MetLife, Inc. has a 1 year low of $65.21 and a 1 year high of $87.39. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $78.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $78.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.18 and a current ratio of 0.20.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.34 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $18.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $31.43 billion. MetLife had a return on equity of 21.81% and a net margin of 4.38%.The company’s revenue was up 27.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.08 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 3rd will be paid a $0.5675 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 3rd. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.30%.

MetLife Profile

MetLife, Inc is a global provider of insurance, annuities and employee benefit programs. Headquartered in New York City, the company offers a range of risk protection and retirement solutions to individuals, employers and institutional clients. Its core businesses include life insurance, group benefits, retirement products such as annuities, and supplemental health products including dental and disability coverage.

In addition to traditional life and group insurance, MetLife provides workplace benefits and voluntary products distributed through employer-sponsored programs.