MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) Stock Position Lowered by Cullinan Associates Inc.

Cullinan Associates Inc. decreased its position in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET - Free Report) by 79.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 35,767 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 136,502 shares during the quarter. Cullinan Associates Inc.'s holdings in MetLife were worth $2,651,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MET. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of MetLife in the fourth quarter worth $558,460,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in MetLife by 20.9% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,053,851 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $268,090,000 after purchasing an additional 700,788 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in MetLife by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,878,238 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $256,468,000 after purchasing an additional 104,116 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of MetLife by 9.9% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,664,012 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $176,304,000 after buying an additional 240,564 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp increased its holdings in shares of MetLife by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 2,005,738 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $132,641,000 after buying an additional 35,782 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.81% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MET has been the subject of several analyst reports. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on MetLife from $85.00 to $82.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 6th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on shares of MetLife from $88.00 to $83.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, June 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of MetLife from $87.00 to $86.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on MetLife from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on MetLife from $86.00 to $85.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $80.23.

MetLife Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE MET traded up $0.17 on Wednesday, reaching $70.21. 2,244,243 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,385,751. The company has a quick ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $71.22 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $70.20. MetLife, Inc. has a 12 month low of $56.13 and a 12 month high of $74.68. The company has a market cap of $49.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 1.11.

MetLife (NYSE:MET - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The financial services provider reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $1.83. The firm had revenue of $17.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $17.73 billion. MetLife had a return on equity of 20.39% and a net margin of 3.50%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.52 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that MetLife, Inc. will post 8.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MetLife announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, May 1st that allows the company to buyback $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to purchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

MetLife Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 7th were paid a $0.545 dividend. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.10%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 6th. This is an increase from MetLife's previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. MetLife's dividend payout ratio is currently 74.91%.

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.