Truist Financial Corp Sells 21,988 Shares of MetLife, Inc. $MET

Truist Financial Corp lessened its stake in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 3.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 607,063 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 21,988 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp’s holdings in MetLife were worth $48,820,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MET. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of MetLife during the 1st quarter valued at $336,965,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of MetLife during the 1st quarter valued at $312,946,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in shares of MetLife by 7.4% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 26,488,146 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,126,734,000 after acquiring an additional 1,824,907 shares during the period. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. bought a new stake in shares of MetLife during the 1st quarter valued at $68,030,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of MetLife by 85.0% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,321,881 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $104,270,000 after acquiring an additional 607,333 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

MetLife Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of MET stock opened at $81.34 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $54.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.79, a PEG ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 0.86. MetLife, Inc. has a 52 week low of $65.21 and a 52 week high of $89.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $79.03 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $78.20.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last announced 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). The company had revenue of $17.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.58 billion. MetLife had a return on equity of 19.88% and a net margin of 5.83%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.28 EPS. Analysts predict that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MET has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley cut 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on shares of MetLife from $94.00 to $92.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Piper Sandler cut shares of MetLife from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $84.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Friday, September 19th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of MetLife to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 16th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of MetLife from $88.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $94.64.

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.