New York State Teachers Retirement System Sells 44,373 Shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

New York State Teachers Retirement System cut its stake in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 7.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 536,323 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 44,373 shares during the quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned approximately 0.08% of MetLife worth $44,236,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of MetLife by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,622,348 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,418,612,000 after purchasing an additional 1,974,268 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in MetLife by 22.4% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,396,274 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $378,799,000 after acquiring an additional 988,666 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in shares of MetLife by 5.4% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,299,800 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $371,993,000 after acquiring an additional 269,246 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of MetLife by 3.2% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,224,930 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $226,358,000 after purchasing an additional 100,782 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in MetLife by 4.1% in the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,772,751 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $205,544,000 after purchasing an additional 108,739 shares in the last quarter. 89.81% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MET has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com cut shares of MetLife from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of MetLife from $89.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. TD Cowen started coverage on MetLife in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $97.00 target price on the stock. Bank of America dropped their price target on MetLife from $99.00 to $96.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on MetLife from $86.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $88.46.

MetLife Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of MET opened at $83.22 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $58.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.43, a P/E/G ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.04. MetLife, Inc. has a 12-month low of $58.89 and a 12-month high of $86.94. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $80.41 and a 200-day moving average price of $74.75. The company has a current ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $2.28 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.13 by $0.15. MetLife had a net margin of 4.23% and a return on equity of 21.41%. The business had revenue of $17.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.57 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.94 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that MetLife, Inc. will post 8.58 earnings per share for the current year.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 5th will be given a dividend of $0.545 per share. This represents a $2.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.62%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 5th. MetLife’s payout ratio is 58.76%.

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.