Yousif Capital Management LLC Sells 4,481 Shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Yousif Capital Management LLC reduced its holdings in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 4.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 99,425 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 4,481 shares during the period. Yousif Capital Management LLC’s holdings in MetLife were worth $6,575,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MET. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in MetLife by 678.4% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 287,311 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $19,000,000 after acquiring an additional 250,402 shares during the period. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd grew its position in MetLife by 19.2% in the fourth quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 1,824,596 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $120,661,000 after acquiring an additional 293,925 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in MetLife by 9.9% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,664,012 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $176,304,000 after acquiring an additional 240,564 shares during the period. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH grew its position in MetLife by 13.1% in the fourth quarter. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH now owns 742,302 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $49,088,000 after acquiring an additional 86,091 shares during the period. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its position in MetLife by 50.0% in the third quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 8,856 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $557,000 after acquiring an additional 2,952 shares during the period. 89.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

MetLife Trading Down 1.1 %

NYSE MET opened at $71.90 on Friday. MetLife, Inc. has a 12 month low of $48.95 and a 12 month high of $74.68. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $71.41 and a 200 day simple moving average of $67.09. The company has a market capitalization of $51.99 billion, a PE ratio of 39.29, a P/E/G ratio of 0.55 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 0.53.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The financial services provider reported $1.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.95 by ($0.02). MetLife had a return on equity of 19.48% and a net margin of 2.36%. The business had revenue of $18.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.07 billion. Research analysts forecast that MetLife, Inc. will post 8.71 EPS for the current year.

MetLife Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 7th will be issued a $0.545 dividend. This is an increase from MetLife’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 6th. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio is 113.66%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other MetLife news, EVP Bill Pappas sold 27,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.27, for a total value of $1,951,290.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 57,768 shares in the company, valued at $4,174,893.36. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Bill Pappas sold 27,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.27, for a total transaction of $1,951,290.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 57,768 shares in the company, valued at $4,174,893.36. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Ramy Tadros sold 4,026 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.90, for a total value of $289,469.40. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 146,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,567,933.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on MET shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on MetLife from $82.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on MetLife from $74.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised MetLife from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $70.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on MetLife from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price target on MetLife from $87.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $79.23.

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.