Choreo LLC Cuts Position in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Choreo LLC lowered its position in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 5.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 63,095 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,449 shares during the quarter. Choreo LLC’s holdings in MetLife were worth $5,150,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. PFG Investments LLC increased its position in shares of MetLife by 8.9% in the third quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 6,360 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $525,000 after acquiring an additional 520 shares in the last quarter. CX Institutional boosted its position in MetLife by 15.9% during the 4th quarter. CX Institutional now owns 68,005 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,568,000 after purchasing an additional 9,337 shares during the period. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new stake in MetLife in the 3rd quarter valued at $2,960,000. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC purchased a new position in MetLife in the third quarter valued at about $1,074,000. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of MetLife by 48,101.4% during the third quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 106,043 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,746,000 after purchasing an additional 105,823 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com lowered MetLife from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of MetLife from $86.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of MetLife from $90.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of MetLife from $97.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on shares of MetLife in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $97.00 price objective for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $91.17.

MetLife Price Performance

MET opened at $84.92 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $83.96 and its 200 day moving average price is $80.68. MetLife, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $65.65 and a fifty-two week high of $89.05. The firm has a market cap of $58.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.07.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The financial services provider reported $2.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.13 by ($0.05). MetLife had a return on equity of 20.01% and a net margin of 5.27%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that MetLife, Inc. will post 8.18 earnings per share for the current year.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 4th will be given a dividend of $0.545 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 4th. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.57%. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.95%.

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.