Amalgamated Bank Sells 4,089 Shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Amalgamated Bank trimmed its holdings in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET - Free Report) by 3.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 111,781 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 4,089 shares during the period. Amalgamated Bank's holdings in MetLife were worth $9,153,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MET. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in 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 during the last quarter. Swedbank AB grew its stake in shares of MetLife by 76.0% during the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 3,466,808 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $283,862,000 after buying an additional 1,496,645 shares during the last quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI bought a new stake in shares of MetLife during the third quarter worth $91,771,000. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. grew its stake in shares of MetLife by 79.1% during the third quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 1,726,209 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $142,378,000 after buying an additional 762,291 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of MetLife by 256.6% during the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 948,223 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $78,209,000 after buying an additional 682,333 shares during the last quarter. 94.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on MET shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on shares of MetLife from $100.00 to $98.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock 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 research note on Friday. StockNews.com lowered shares of MetLife from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of MetLife from $92.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on shares of MetLife from $96.00 to $95.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $94.58.

MetLife Trading Up 2.5 %

MET stock traded up $2.11 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $86.16. The stock had a trading volume of 4,838,836 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,579,201. The firm has a market cap of $58.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a current ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. MetLife, Inc. has a 1-year low of $67.30 and a 1-year high of $89.05. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $83.65 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $81.83.

MetLife (NYSE:MET - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The financial services provider reported $2.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.13 by ($0.05). MetLife had a net margin of 6.19% and a return on equity of 20.42%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.545 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 4th. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.53%. MetLife's dividend payout ratio is currently 36.52%.

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.