DnB Asset Management AS Sells 88,733 Shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

DnB Asset Management AS decreased its stake in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 42.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 119,990 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 88,733 shares during the period. DnB Asset Management AS’s holdings in MetLife were worth $9,825,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in MetLife during the 4th quarter valued at $730,716,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of MetLife by 109.2% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,826,658 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $722,727,000 after acquiring an additional 4,606,748 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB lifted its stake in MetLife by 76.0% in the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 3,466,808 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $283,862,000 after acquiring an additional 1,496,645 shares during the period. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI bought a new position in MetLife during the 3rd quarter worth about $91,771,000. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its position in MetLife by 256.6% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 948,223 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $78,209,000 after purchasing an additional 682,333 shares during the period. 94.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MET has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of MetLife from $96.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com downgraded MetLife from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on MetLife from $100.00 to $98.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of MetLife from $101.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on shares of MetLife in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $97.00 price target on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, MetLife presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $94.58.

MetLife Trading Down 4.6 %

NYSE MET opened at $79.19 on Friday. MetLife, Inc. has a 12-month low of $67.30 and a 12-month high of $89.05. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $83.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $82.89. The company has a current ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The stock has a market cap of $53.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.27, a P/E/G ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 1.04.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The financial services provider reported $2.08 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%. On average, analysts forecast that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current year.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 4th were given a dividend of $0.545 per share. This represents a $2.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 4th. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.52%.

About MetLife

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.