Wambolt & Associates LLC Sells 899 Shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Wambolt & Associates LLC cut its stake in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 15.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 4,880 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 899 shares during the period. Wambolt & Associates LLC’s holdings in MetLife were worth $400,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. CX Institutional grew its stake in MetLife by 15.9% in the 4th quarter. CX Institutional now owns 68,005 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,568,000 after acquiring an additional 9,337 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in shares of MetLife by 109.2% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,826,658 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $722,727,000 after purchasing an additional 4,606,748 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its stake in MetLife by 27.3% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 13,692 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,116,000 after purchasing an additional 2,940 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its holdings in MetLife by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 776,244 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $63,559,000 after purchasing an additional 12,723 shares during the period. Finally, Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in MetLife during the 4th quarter valued at $259,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

MetLife Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MET opened at $83.70 on Wednesday. MetLife, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $67.30 and a fifty-two week high of $89.05. The company has a market cap of $57.02 billion, a PE ratio of 14.02, a P/E/G ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a current ratio of 0.16. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $83.52 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $82.79.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The financial services provider reported $2.08 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.13 by ($0.05). MetLife had a return on equity of 20.42% and a net margin of 6.19%. As a group, equities analysts expect that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 4th were given a $0.545 dividend. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.60%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 4th. MetLife’s payout ratio is 36.52%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MET has been the topic of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on MetLife from $86.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of MetLife from $100.00 to $98.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on shares of MetLife in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $97.00 price target for the company. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of MetLife from $96.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of MetLife in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, MetLife currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $94.58.

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.