Argonautica Private Wealth Management Inc. Lowers Position in MetLife, Inc. $MET

Argonautica Private Wealth Management Inc. lessened its stake in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 13.5% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 3,506 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 545 shares during the quarter. Argonautica Private Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in MetLife were worth $282,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MET. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of MetLife during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $336,965,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of MetLife during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $312,946,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of MetLife by 7.4% during the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. purchased a new position in shares of MetLife during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $68,030,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of MetLife by 85.0% during the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MET has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on MetLife from $100.00 to $103.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Wolfe Research raised MetLife to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 16th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of MetLife in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of MetLife in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on MetLife from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, MetLife currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $95.18.

MetLife Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of MET opened at $79.02 on Wednesday. MetLife, Inc. has a 52-week low of $65.21 and a 52-week high of $89.05. The company has a market capitalization of $52.55 billion, a PE ratio of 13.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.86. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $80.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $78.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 earnings per share (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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.58 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.28 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 EPS for the current year.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 9th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 4th will be paid a $0.5675 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 4th. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 38.47%.

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.