MetLife, Inc. $MET Shares Sold by Abacus Planning Group Inc.

Abacus Planning Group Inc. lowered its stake in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 1.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,108 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 133 shares during the quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc.’s holdings in MetLife were worth $974,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Crews Bank & Trust grew its position in shares of MetLife by 48.5% during the second quarter. Crews Bank & Trust now owns 2,060 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $166,000 after buying an additional 673 shares in the last quarter. Hilltop National Bank acquired a new stake in shares of MetLife during the second quarter worth approximately $608,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of MetLife by 6.0% during the second quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 64,424 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,181,000 after buying an additional 3,639 shares in the last quarter. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. grew its position in shares of MetLife by 107.0% during the second quarter. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. now owns 32,208 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,590,000 after buying an additional 16,647 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vicus Capital grew its position in shares of MetLife by 14.3% during the second quarter. Vicus Capital now owns 3,021 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $243,000 after buying an additional 377 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

MetLife Stock Performance

Shares of MET opened at $81.34 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $79.03 and its 200 day moving average price is $78.20. MetLife, Inc. has a 12-month low of $65.21 and a 12-month high of $89.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $54.09 billion, a PE ratio of 13.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.16 and a quick ratio of 0.16.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last posted 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). The company had revenue of $17.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.58 billion. MetLife had a net margin of 5.83% and a return on equity of 19.88%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.28 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 EPS for the current year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 9th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 5th were paid a $0.5675 dividend. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 5th. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.47%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MET has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler downgraded shares of 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. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of MetLife from $100.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of MetLife from $94.00 to $92.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “overweight” rating and set a $97.00 price objective (up from $94.00) on shares of MetLife in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on MetLife from $98.00 to $94.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, MetLife currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $94.64.

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.