TCW Group Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

TCW Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 4.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 616,303 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 27,241 shares during the quarter. TCW Group Inc.’s holdings in MetLife were worth $40,758,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MET. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. raised its position in shares of MetLife by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. now owns 8,898 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $588,000 after acquiring an additional 167 shares in the last quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of MetLife by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC now owns 4,367 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $289,000 after acquiring an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. KLCM Advisors Inc. increased its position in MetLife by 3.6% during the third quarter. KLCM Advisors Inc. now owns 4,920 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $310,000 after buying an additional 171 shares during the period. Evergreen Wealth Solutions LLC increased its position in MetLife by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Evergreen Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 6,601 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $437,000 after buying an additional 177 shares during the period. Finally, Highland Capital Management LLC increased its position in MetLife by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC now owns 61,738 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,083,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the period. 89.81% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on MET. Piper Sandler cut their price target on MetLife from $85.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 6th. UBS Group cut their price target on MetLife from $87.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 5th. StockNews.com lowered MetLife from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 11th. Argus lifted their target price on MetLife from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on MetLife from $86.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $79.08.

Insider Transactions at MetLife

In other news, EVP Bill Pappas sold 27,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.27, for a total value of $1,951,290.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 57,768 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,174,893.36. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, EVP Bill Pappas sold 27,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.27, for a total value of $1,951,290.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 57,768 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,174,893.36. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Ramy Tadros sold 4,026 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.90, for a total value of $289,469.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 146,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,567,933.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

MetLife Price Performance

MET stock traded down $1.22 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $71.65. 3,290,809 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,441,653. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $72.22 and its 200-day moving average price is $68.62. The stock has a market cap of $50.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.04, a PEG ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 1.09. MetLife, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $49.38 and a fifty-two week high of $74.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a current ratio of 0.16.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The financial services provider reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.83. The firm had revenue of $17.02 billion during 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%. MetLife’s revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.52 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that MetLife, Inc. will post 8.62 earnings per share for the current year.

MetLife Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 7th will be issued a $0.545 dividend. This represents a $2.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.04%. This is a boost from MetLife’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 6th. MetLife’s payout ratio is 74.91%.

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

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.