Ransom Advisory Ltd Decreases Stake in MetLife, Inc. $MET

Ransom Advisory Ltd lowered its position in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 1.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 23,400 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 350 shares during the quarter. MetLife makes up about 0.9% of Ransom Advisory Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. Ransom Advisory Ltd’s holdings in MetLife were worth $1,882,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Persium Advisors LLC lifted its stake in MetLife by 5.5% in the second quarter. Persium Advisors LLC now owns 8,875 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $714,000 after acquiring an additional 463 shares during the last quarter. Goldstone Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of MetLife by 22.6% during the 2nd quarter. Goldstone Financial Group LLC now owns 8,577 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $692,000 after buying an additional 1,581 shares during the last quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. lifted its position in shares of MetLife by 55.8% during the 2nd quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 1,198 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $96,000 after buying an additional 429 shares during the last quarter. AG2R LA Mondiale Gestion D Actifs purchased a new stake in shares of MetLife during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,775,000. Finally, Voya Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of MetLife by 3.6% during the 1st quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 366,556 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,431,000 after buying an additional 12,877 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

MetLife Stock Up 0.6%

MET stock opened at $80.86 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $78.24 and a 200 day moving average price of $78.25. MetLife, Inc. has a 12 month low of $65.21 and a 12 month high of $89.05. The company has a market cap of $53.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.16 and a quick ratio of 0.16.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.32 by ($0.30). MetLife had a net margin of 5.83% and a return on equity of 19.88%. The business had revenue of $17.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.58 billion. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.28 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current year.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 9th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 5th were paid a $0.5675 dividend. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 5th. MetLife’s payout ratio is currently 38.47%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MET. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of MetLife from $100.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of MetLife in a research report on Friday, August 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “overweight” rating and set a $97.00 price objective (up previously from $94.00) on shares of MetLife in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of MetLife from $98.00 to $94.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of MetLife from $94.00 to $91.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $95.60.

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.