Truist Financial Corp Sells 19,889 Shares of MetLife, Inc. $MET

Truist Financial Corp lessened its position in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 3.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 587,174 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 19,889 shares during the quarter. Truist Financial Corp owned approximately 0.09% of MetLife worth $48,366,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Allworth Financial LP raised its holdings in MetLife by 13.4% in the 2nd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 10,893 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $876,000 after purchasing an additional 1,285 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in shares of MetLife by 188.1% during the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 417,515 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $33,577,000 after buying an additional 272,619 shares during the last quarter. McElhenny Sheffield Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of MetLife during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,608,000. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in MetLife by 256.8% in the 3rd quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 62,662 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,161,000 after acquiring an additional 45,100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its stake in shares of MetLife by 8.3% in the 3rd quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 393,035 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $32,374,000 after buying an additional 30,200 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on MET. Mizuho set a $102.00 target price on shares of MetLife in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of MetLife from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of MetLife from $92.00 to $90.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 11th. Barclays set a $90.00 price target on MetLife in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Finally, Evercore ISI set a $97.00 price objective on shares of MetLife and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $95.27.

MetLife Stock Performance

NYSE:MET opened at $78.22 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $51.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.73, a P/E/G ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 0.76. MetLife, Inc. has a twelve month low of $65.21 and a twelve month high of $87.56. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $78.69 and its 200-day moving average price is $78.78. The company has a current ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 0.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The financial services provider reported $2.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.07. MetLife had a return on equity of 21.00% and a net margin of 5.30%.The business had revenue of $12.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.95 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.5675 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 3rd. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 42.75%.

MetLife Company Profile

MetLife, Inc is a global provider of insurance, annuities and employee benefit programs. Headquartered in New York City, the company offers a range of risk protection and retirement solutions to individuals, employers and institutional clients. Its core businesses include life insurance, group benefits, retirement products such as annuities, and supplemental health products including dental and disability coverage.

In addition to traditional life and group insurance, MetLife provides workplace benefits and voluntary products distributed through employer-sponsored programs.