Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. trimmed its position in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 2.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 8,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 200 shares during the period. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in MetLife were worth $593,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MET. CNB Bank grew its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 147 shares during the period. Strategic Blueprint LLC grew its holdings in MetLife by 2.9% in the first quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC now owns 5,323 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $394,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares during the period. Marcum Wealth LLC grew its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 153 shares during the period. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC grew its holdings in MetLife by 12.5% in the first quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 1,470 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $109,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares during the period. Finally, 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 worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.81% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on MetLife from $86.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 8th. StockNews.com cut MetLife from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 1st. Citigroup upped their price objective on MetLife from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on MetLife from $82.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on MetLife from $83.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.08.

MetLife Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of MET traded down $0.06 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $75.18. The stock had a trading volume of 570,180 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,320,713. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a current ratio of 0.16. The firm has a market cap of $53.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.86, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.11. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $71.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $70.85. MetLife, Inc. has a 12-month low of $57.91 and a 12-month high of $76.90.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The financial services provider reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.83. MetLife had a return on equity of 20.39% and a net margin of 3.50%. The company 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 posted $1.52 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that MetLife, Inc. will post 8.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 6th 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 2.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 6th. MetLife’s payout ratio is 74.91%.

MetLife declared that its board has approved a share buyback program on Wednesday, May 1st that permits the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to repurchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.