Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. Sells 474 Shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. cut its holdings in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 6.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 6,532 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 474 shares during the quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc.’s holdings in MetLife were worth $539,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MET. TD Cowen began coverage on shares of MetLife in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $97.00 target price for the company. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of MetLife from $89.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of MetLife from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price 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. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on shares of MetLife from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. One equities research 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 has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $88.46.

MetLife Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of MET opened at $84.77 on Wednesday. MetLife, Inc. has a 12 month low of $57.91 and a 12 month high of $86.94. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $79.11 and its 200-day moving average is $74.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $60.28 billion, a PE ratio of 29.13, a P/E/G ratio of 0.69 and a beta of 1.04. 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 announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $2.28 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.13 by $0.15. MetLife had a net margin of 4.23% and a return on equity of 21.41%. The company had revenue of $17.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.57 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.94 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that MetLife, Inc. will post 8.61 EPS for the current year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.545 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 5th. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.57%. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio is presently 74.91%.

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.