Woodward Diversified Capital LLC Sells 4,848 Shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Woodward Diversified Capital LLC lowered its stake in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET - Free Report) by 42.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,536 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 4,848 shares during the quarter. Woodward Diversified Capital LLC's holdings in MetLife were worth $535,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MET. PFG Investments LLC raised its position in shares of MetLife by 8.9% during the 3rd quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 6,360 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $525,000 after buying an additional 520 shares in the last quarter. CX Institutional lifted its stake in shares of MetLife by 15.9% in the 4th quarter. CX Institutional now owns 68,005 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $5,568,000 after purchasing an additional 9,337 shares during the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new stake in shares of MetLife in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $2,960,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of MetLife by 48,101.4% in the 3rd quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 106,043 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $8,746,000 after purchasing an additional 105,823 shares during the period. Finally, Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC bought a new position in shares of MetLife during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,074,000. Institutional investors own 94.99% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MET has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of MetLife from $96.00 to $95.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of MetLife from $100.00 to $98.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of MetLife from $97.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on MetLife from $93.00 to $92.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on MetLife from $86.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, MetLife currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $92.17.

MetLife Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of MET stock traded down $0.40 on Wednesday, hitting $82.77. The stock had a trading volume of 2,590,362 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,671,856. MetLife, Inc. has a one year low of $67.04 and a one year high of $89.05. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $83.59 and a 200 day moving average price of $80.98. The company has a market cap of $57.31 billion, a PE ratio of 13.86, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 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 (NYSE:MET - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The financial services provider reported $2.08 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%. Research analysts anticipate that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 4th will be given 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 yield of 2.63%. MetLife's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.