3,097 Shares in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) Acquired by Lazari Capital Management Inc.

Lazari Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 3,097 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $205,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in MetLife in the 4th quarter worth approximately $558,460,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its stake in MetLife by 806.2% in the 3rd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 1,607,195 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $100,152,000 after acquiring an additional 1,429,840 shares during the last quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc purchased a new stake in MetLife during the 4th quarter valued at about $52,752,000. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MetLife by 54.1% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,126,683 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $133,790,000 after purchasing an additional 746,643 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in MetLife by 20.9% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,053,851 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $268,090,000 after buying an additional 700,788 shares during the last quarter. 89.81% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at MetLife

In related news, EVP Bill Pappas sold 27,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 57,768 shares in the company, valued at $4,174,893.36. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

MetLife Price Performance

NYSE MET traded down $0.11 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $68.55. The stock had a trading volume of 2,302,378 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,720,064. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $71.33 and its 200 day moving average is $69.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.16 and a quick ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $48.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.56, a PEG ratio of 0.57 and a beta of 1.12. MetLife, Inc. has a twelve month low of $52.97 and a twelve month high of $74.68.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The financial services provider reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.83. The firm had revenue of $17.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.73 billion. MetLife had a net margin of 3.50% and a return on equity of 20.39%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.52 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that MetLife, Inc. will post 8.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MetLife declared that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, May 1st that authorizes the company to buyback $3.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to buy up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

MetLife Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 7th were given a dividend of $0.545 per share. This is a boost from MetLife’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.18%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 6th. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 74.91%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on MET shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of MetLife from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on MetLife from $87.00 to $86.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 7th. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on MetLife from $85.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 6th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on MetLife from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Argus raised their price objective on shares of MetLife from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, MetLife has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $79.08.

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.