MetLife shares plunge the most in six months on Thursday, insurer faces $1 billion in charges during third quarter

Shares of the largest life insurer in the United States, MetLife Inc (MET), plummeted at the sharpest daily rate in six months during yesterdays trade, as the company announced expectations of $1 billion in charges during the third quarter associated with the spin-off of Brighthouse Financial, its retail unit in the US.

MetLife shares closed lower for a second consecutive trading session on Thursday. It has also been the steepest daily loss since February 2nd. The stock went down 3.57% ($1.98) to $53.50, after touching an intraday low at $53.30, or a price level not seen since June 27th ($52.71). In the week ended on July 30th the shares of the insurance company added 1.10% to their market value compared to a week ago, which marked the first gain in the past three weeks, but yet, the smallest one since the week ended on June 4th. The stock has neutralized earlier gains and is now down 2.73% so far during the current month, following a 0.11% increase in July. The latter has been a second consecutive month of gains. For the entire past year, MetLife shares gained 11.78%.

“(MetLife) disclosed several below-the-line items that will reduce book value and net income in the third quarter related to Brighthouse spinoff amounting to more than $1.1 billion, which is bigger than expected”, Autonomous Research analyst Erik Bass was quoted as saying by Reuters.

MetLife also announced it expected dividend from Brighthouse Financial of as much as $3 billion. The latter has been a revision down from $3.4 billion, as projected earlier, since $400 million were to be added to Brighthouse Financials reserves.

Trading in Brighthouses stock is expected to begin on August 7th.

According to CNN Money, the 15 analysts, offering 12-month forecasts regarding MetLife Inc’s stock price, have a median target of $60.00, with a high estimate of $67.00 and a low estimate of $51.00. The median estimate is a 12.15% surge compared to the closing price of $53.50 on August 3rd.

The same media also reported that 11 out of 19 surveyed investment analysts had rated MetLife Inc’ stock as “Buy”, while 7 – as “Hold”. On the other hand, 1 analyst had recommended selling the stock.

Daily and Weekly Pivot Levels

With the help of the Camarilla calculation method, todays levels of importance for the MetLife Incs stock are presented as follows:

R1 – $53.60
R2 – $53.71
R3 (Range Resistance – Sell) – $53.81
R4 (Long Breakout) – $54.13
R5 (Breakout Target 1) – $54.49
R6 (Breakout Target 2) – $54.64

S1 – $53.40
S2 – $53.29
S3 (Range Support – Buy) – $53.19
S4 (Short Breakout) – $52.87
S5 (Breakout Target 1) – $52.51
S6 (Breakout Target 2) – $52.36

By using the traditional method of calculation, the weekly levels of importance for MetLife Inc (MET) are presented as follows:

Central Pivot Point – $55.20
R1 – $55.88
R2 – $56.52
R3 – $57.20
R4 – $57.89

S1 – $54.56
S2 – $53.88
S3 – $53.24
S4 – $52.61