AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc Sells 45,894 Shares of MetLife, Inc. $MET

AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc lowered its holdings in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 4.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 971,381 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 45,894 shares during the period. MetLife comprises about 1.0% of AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest position. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc owned 0.14% of MetLife worth $78,089,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MET. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of MetLife during the 1st quarter valued at $336,965,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of MetLife during the 1st quarter valued at $312,946,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of MetLife by 7.4% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 26,488,146 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,126,734,000 after purchasing an additional 1,824,907 shares during the last quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. bought a new stake in MetLife in the 1st quarter worth $68,030,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in MetLife by 85.0% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,321,881 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $104,270,000 after acquiring an additional 607,333 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MET. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of MetLife from $86.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of MetLife from $94.00 to $92.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 11th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of MetLife from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of MetLife from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of MetLife in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $95.18.

MetLife Trading Up 2.6%

NYSE:MET opened at $82.90 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $79.96 and a 200-day moving average price of $78.13. MetLife, Inc. has a 12 month low of $65.21 and a 12 month high of $89.05. The company has a current ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The stock has a market cap of $55.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.05, a P/E/G ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 0.86.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.32 by ($0.30). MetLife had a return on equity of 19.88% and a net margin of 5.83%.The company had revenue of $17.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.58 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.28 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 EPS for the current year.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 9th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 4th will be given a dividend of $0.5675 per share. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 4th. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 38.47%.

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.