New York State Teachers Retirement System Sells 39,826 Shares of MetLife, Inc. $MET

New York State Teachers Retirement System decreased its position in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 7.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 465,717 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 39,826 shares during the quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned 0.07% of MetLife worth $32,936,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Optas LLC bought a new position in shares of MetLife during the first quarter worth about $211,000. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in MetLife in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $6,078,000. Leonteq Securities AG lifted its stake in MetLife by 90.6% in the 1st quarter. Leonteq Securities AG now owns 24,502 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,733,000 after acquiring an additional 11,647 shares in the last quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund boosted its position in MetLife by 99.6% during the 1st quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 191,665 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,555,000 after acquiring an additional 95,650 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of MetLife by 73.0% during the 1st quarter. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC now owns 14,764 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,044,000 after acquiring an additional 6,228 shares in the last quarter. 94.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on MET. Evercore set a $96.00 price objective on shares of MetLife in a report on Thursday, April 9th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of MetLife from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. TD Cowen lowered their price target on shares of MetLife from $91.00 to $88.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of MetLife from $89.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. Finally, Mizuho set a $95.00 price objective on shares of MetLife in a research note on Friday, May 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $95.62.

MetLife Stock Down 0.2%

NYSE:MET opened at $89.90 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $57.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 0.78. MetLife, Inc. has a twelve month low of $67.33 and a twelve month high of $90.06. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $83.11 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $78.34. The company has a quick ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 0.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.42 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.15. MetLife had a return on equity of 22.60% and a net margin of 4.66%.The company had revenue of $14.18 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.49 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.96 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 9th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th were paid a $0.5925 dividend. This is an increase from MetLife’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 12th. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio is 45.93%.

MetLife Profile

MetLife, Inc is a global provider of insurance, annuities and employee benefit programs. Headquartered in New York City, the company offers a range of risk protection and retirement solutions to individuals, employers and institutional clients. Its core businesses include life insurance, group benefits, retirement products such as annuities, and supplemental health products including dental and disability coverage.

In addition to traditional life and group insurance, MetLife provides workplace benefits and voluntary products distributed through employer-sponsored programs.