MetLife, Inc. $MET Shares Sold by Clarius Group LLC

Clarius Group LLC lessened its stake in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 5.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,254 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 304 shares during the period. Clarius Group LLC’s holdings in MetLife were worth $423,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. 111 Capital increased its position in MetLife by 128.2% in the 2nd quarter. 111 Capital now owns 13,683 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,100,000 after acquiring an additional 7,688 shares during the period. Precedent Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in MetLife by 14.6% in the 2nd quarter. Precedent Wealth Partners LLC now owns 23,071 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,855,000 after acquiring an additional 2,946 shares during the period. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. increased its position in MetLife by 9.9% in the 2nd quarter. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. now owns 7,101 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $571,000 after acquiring an additional 638 shares during the period. Ascent Group LLC increased its position in MetLife by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 33,991 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,734,000 after purchasing an additional 1,141 shares during the period. Finally, Hudson Edge Investment Partners Inc. increased its position in MetLife by 7.5% during the 2nd quarter. Hudson Edge Investment Partners Inc. now owns 88,354 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,105,000 after purchasing an additional 6,159 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MET has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group dropped their target price on MetLife from $94.00 to $91.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $97.00 target price (up previously from $94.00) on shares of MetLife in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on MetLife from $94.00 to $92.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of MetLife in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on MetLife from $88.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $94.64.

MetLife Stock Performance

MetLife stock opened at $82.34 on Tuesday. 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 stock has a fifty day moving average of $79.20 and a two-hundred day moving average of $78.14. The company has a market capitalization of $54.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.96, a PEG ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 0.86. MetLife, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $65.21 and a fifty-two week high of $89.05.

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

MetLife 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.