Handelsbanken Fonder AB Sells 14,806 Shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB trimmed its position in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 13.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 94,314 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 14,806 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in MetLife were worth $7,722,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MET. Swedbank AB boosted its holdings in MetLife by 5.3% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,970,163 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $162,499,000 after acquiring an additional 99,328 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in MetLife by 3.9% during the third quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 12,738 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,051,000 after acquiring an additional 474 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its holdings in MetLife by 27.7% during the third quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 9,579 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $790,000 after acquiring an additional 2,076 shares during the period. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC boosted its holdings in MetLife by 3.1% during the third quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 4,681 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $386,000 after acquiring an additional 142 shares during the period. Finally, CWC Advisors LLC. bought a new stake in MetLife during the third quarter valued at about $618,000. 94.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MET has been the subject of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on shares of MetLife from $100.00 to $98.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of MetLife from $97.00 to $99.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. StockNews.com cut shares of MetLife from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on shares of MetLife in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $97.00 target price for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, MetLife currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $92.58.

MetLife Stock Performance

NYSE MET opened at $81.02 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $56.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.57, a PEG ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a 50 day moving average of $83.41 and a 200-day moving average of $81.44. The company has a current ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. MetLife, Inc. has a 1-year low of $67.30 and a 1-year high of $89.05.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The financial services provider reported $2.08 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.13 by ($0.05). MetLife had a return on equity of 20.42% and a net margin of 6.19%. On average, equities analysts forecast that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.545 per share. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 4th. MetLife’s payout ratio is 36.52%.

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.