MetLife, Inc. $MET Shares Sold by Virtue Capital Management LLC

Virtue Capital Management LLC decreased its holdings in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 15.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,313 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 805 shares during the quarter. Virtue Capital Management LLC’s holdings in MetLife were worth $347,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in MetLife in the first quarter valued at about $312,946,000. ABN AMRO Bank N.V. purchased a new stake in shares of MetLife in the second quarter worth about $178,669,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of MetLife by 7.4% in the first 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 buying an additional 1,824,907 shares in the last quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of MetLife in the first quarter valued at about $68,030,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of MetLife by 85.0% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,321,881 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $104,270,000 after buying an additional 607,333 shares during the period. 94.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MetLife Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of NYSE:MET opened at $76.95 on Friday. 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 company has a fifty day simple moving average of $79.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $78.81. The firm has a market cap of $50.70 billion, a PE ratio of 13.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 0.87. MetLife, Inc. has a 12-month low of $65.21 and a 12-month high of $88.68.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 5th. The financial services provider reported $2.37 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $12.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.64 billion. MetLife had a net margin of 5.83% and a return on equity of 19.88%. The firm’s revenue was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.95 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 9th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 4th will be issued a $0.5675 dividend. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 4th. MetLife’s payout ratio is currently 42.75%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on MET shares. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of MetLife in a report on Monday. Wolfe Research raised shares of MetLife to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 16th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of MetLife from $93.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of MetLife from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of MetLife from $100.00 to $103.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $94.60.

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.