Sentry Investment Management LLC Sells 385 Shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Sentry Investment Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 14.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,364 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 385 shares during the quarter. Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings in MetLife were worth $194,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MET. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in MetLife by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,548,725 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $375,179,000 after buying an additional 68,579 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in MetLife by 16.8% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,238,087 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $347,735,000 after acquiring an additional 608,224 shares during the period. Swedbank AB grew its position in shares of MetLife by 76.0% in the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 3,466,808 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $283,862,000 after purchasing an additional 1,496,645 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in shares of MetLife by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,274,258 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $268,096,000 after purchasing an additional 114,166 shares during the period. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp lifted its position in shares of MetLife by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 2,239,841 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $184,744,000 after purchasing an additional 105,762 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on MET shares. StockNews.com lowered MetLife from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of MetLife from $100.00 to $98.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of MetLife from $96.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of MetLife from $97.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on shares of MetLife in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $97.00 target price for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MetLife presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $92.58.

MetLife Stock Performance

NYSE MET opened at $82.29 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $56.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.78, a PEG ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a quick ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. MetLife, Inc. has a twelve month low of $67.30 and a twelve month high of $89.05. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $83.41 and its 200 day simple moving average is $81.69.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The financial services provider reported $2.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.13 by ($0.05). MetLife had a return on equity of 20.42% and a net margin of 6.19%. As a group, research analysts forecast that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 4th will be paid a $0.545 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 4th. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.65%. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.52%.

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.