Ramirez Asset Management Inc. Sells 500 Shares of MetLife, Inc. $MET

Ramirez Asset Management Inc. decreased its position in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 33.3% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 500 shares during the quarter. Ramirez Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in MetLife were worth $80,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MET. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in MetLife in the first quarter valued at about $336,965,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in MetLife in the first quarter valued at about $312,946,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in MetLife by 7.4% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 26,488,146 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,126,734,000 after buying an additional 1,824,907 shares during the last quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. purchased a new stake in MetLife in the first quarter valued at about $68,030,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in MetLife by 85.0% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,321,881 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $104,270,000 after buying an additional 607,333 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

MetLife Stock Performance

Shares of MetLife stock opened at $79.88 on Friday. MetLife, Inc. has a one year low of $65.21 and a one year high of $89.05. The company has a market cap of $53.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.54, a PEG ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a current ratio of 0.16. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $79.68 and its 200 day moving average price is $78.16.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.32 by ($0.30). MetLife had a return on equity of 19.88% and a net margin of 5.83%.The company had revenue of $17.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.58 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.28 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 EPS for the current year.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 9th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 4th will be paid a $0.5675 dividend. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 4th. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio is 38.47%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on MET shares. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of MetLife in a research note on Wednesday. Piper Sandler cut MetLife from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $84.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Friday, September 19th. Barclays lifted their price target on MetLife from $93.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on MetLife from $86.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on MetLife from $94.00 to $91.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $95.18.

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.