ProShare Advisors LLC Sells 13,189 Shares of MetLife, Inc. $MET

ProShare Advisors LLC cut its position in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 9.1% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 131,631 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 13,189 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC’s holdings in MetLife were worth $10,842,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MET. Allworth Financial LP boosted its stake in shares of MetLife by 13.4% in the 2nd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 10,893 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $876,000 after purchasing an additional 1,285 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in MetLife by 188.1% in the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 417,515 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $33,577,000 after purchasing an additional 272,619 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its position in MetLife by 8.9% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,176,469 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $96,905,000 after buying an additional 96,523 shares during the period. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of MetLife by 256.8% during the third quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 62,662 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,161,000 after buying an additional 45,100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its holdings in shares of MetLife by 8.3% in the third quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 393,035 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $32,374,000 after buying an additional 30,200 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on MET shares. Weiss Ratings lowered MetLife from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. UBS Group increased their price objective on MetLife from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Barclays set a $90.00 target price on shares of MetLife in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Evercore set a $97.00 price target on shares of MetLife and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of MetLife from $92.00 to $90.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $95.58.

MetLife Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of MET opened at $78.89 on Thursday. MetLife, Inc. has a 1-year low of $65.21 and a 1-year high of $87.39. The company has a current ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 0.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $78.96 and its 200-day moving average price is $78.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $51.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.79, a PEG ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.77.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.58 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.34 by $0.24. The business had revenue of $18.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $31.43 billion. MetLife had a net margin of 4.38% and a return on equity of 21.81%. MetLife’s quarterly revenue was up 27.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.08 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 EPS for the current year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 3rd will be paid a $0.5675 dividend. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 3rd. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.30%.

About MetLife

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.