Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Has $3.83 Million Position in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky cut its holdings in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 6.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 51,684 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,776 shares during the period. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in MetLife were worth $3,831,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Cetera Advisors LLC boosted its position in MetLife by 67.0% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 54,550 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,043,000 after buying an additional 21,886 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its position in shares of MetLife by 177.4% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 226,089 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $16,755,000 after purchasing an additional 144,599 shares during the period. PGGM Investments acquired a new position in shares of MetLife in the 1st quarter worth approximately $272,000. Orleans Capital Management Corp LA lifted its position in shares of MetLife by 50.8% in the 1st quarter. Orleans Capital Management Corp LA now owns 26,673 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,977,000 after purchasing an additional 8,986 shares during the period. Finally, Atria Investments Inc lifted its position in shares of MetLife by 6.2% in the 1st quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 60,805 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,506,000 after purchasing an additional 3,559 shares during the period. 89.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MET has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of MetLife from $83.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of MetLife from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of MetLife from $85.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 6th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of MetLife from $86.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 10th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of MetLife from $86.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $82.14.

MetLife Stock Down 6.9 %

Shares of NYSE MET traded down $5.22 during trading on Friday, hitting $70.56. The stock had a trading volume of 6,766,390 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,979,832. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $71.94 and a two-hundred day moving average of $71.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.16 and a quick ratio of 0.16. The company has a market capitalization of $50.18 billion, a PE ratio of 24.25, a PEG ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 1.11. MetLife, Inc. has a 12 month low of $57.91 and a 12 month high of $79.34.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $2.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.13 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $17.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.57 billion. MetLife had a net margin of 4.23% and a return on equity of 21.41%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.94 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that MetLife, Inc. will post 8.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 6th will be issued a $0.545 dividend. This represents a $2.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.09%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 6th. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 74.91%.

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

MetLife Company 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.