Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC Sells 7,381 Shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC lowered its position in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 2.1% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 341,639 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 7,381 shares during the quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC’s holdings in MetLife were worth $25,319,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MET. CNB Bank boosted its position in shares of MetLife by 9.3% in the first quarter. CNB Bank now owns 1,735 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $129,000 after acquiring an additional 147 shares during the period. Strategic Blueprint LLC increased its holdings in shares of MetLife by 2.9% during the first quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC now owns 5,323 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $394,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares during the period. Marcum Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of MetLife by 4.7% in the first quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC now owns 3,436 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $255,000 after buying an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC boosted its stake in shares of MetLife by 73.3% in the first quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 390 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 165 shares during the period. Finally, SWS Partners increased its stake in MetLife by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. SWS Partners now owns 55,356 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,102,000 after acquiring an additional 165 shares during the period. 89.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MET has been the subject of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of MetLife from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on MetLife from $82.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Argus raised their price target on shares of MetLife from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on shares of MetLife from $86.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on MetLife from $88.00 to $83.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $80.23.

MetLife Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of NYSE:MET traded up $1.24 on Wednesday, reaching $71.16. 1,986,942 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,355,722. The stock has a market capitalization of $50.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 1.11. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $71.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $70.35. The company has a current ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. MetLife, Inc. has a 52 week low of $57.70 and a 52 week high of $74.68.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The financial services provider reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.83. MetLife had a return on equity of 20.39% and a net margin of 3.50%. The business had revenue of $17.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.73 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.52 EPS. MetLife’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that MetLife, Inc. will post 8.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 7th were given a dividend of $0.545 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 6th. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.06%. This is a boost from MetLife’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio is presently 74.91%.

MetLife declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, May 1st that permits the company to buyback $3.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to purchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.