Mcrae Capital Management Inc. Cuts Stock Position in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Mcrae Capital Management Inc. decreased its stake in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 9.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,835 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 532 shares during the quarter. Mcrae Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in MetLife were worth $399,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC increased its stake in MetLife by 374.3% during the 3rd quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 351 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 277 shares in the last quarter. Bank & Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of MetLife during the 2nd quarter valued at $39,000. Crewe Advisors LLC grew its holdings in MetLife by 602.5% during the second quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 562 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 482 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in MetLife by 72.6% in the 2nd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 568 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 239 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC increased its stake in shares of MetLife by 98.3% in the third quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 712 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 353 shares in the last quarter. 89.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on MET. Piper Sandler increased their target price on MetLife from $85.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Citigroup upped their price objective on MetLife from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of MetLife from $86.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on MetLife from $86.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 19th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of MetLife from $89.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, MetLife currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $88.46.

MetLife Stock Performance

Shares of MET stock opened at $82.39 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $79.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $74.50. MetLife, Inc. has a 12-month low of $57.91 and a 12-month high of $86.94. The company has a market cap of $58.59 billion, a PE ratio of 28.31, a PEG ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a current ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $2.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.13 by $0.15. MetLife had a net margin of 4.23% and a return on equity of 21.41%. The business had revenue of $17.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.57 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.94 EPS. MetLife’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that MetLife, Inc. will post 8.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 5th will be given a dividend of $0.545 per share. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 5th. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio is currently 74.91%.

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.