Peoples Bank OH Cuts Holdings in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Peoples Bank OH lessened its stake in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 7.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,946 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 315 shares during the period. Peoples Bank OH’s holdings in MetLife were worth $292,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MET. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of MetLife in the 4th quarter valued at $558,460,000. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc purchased a new stake in shares of MetLife in the 4th quarter valued at $52,752,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $268,090,000 after purchasing an additional 700,788 shares in the last quarter. Groupama Asset Managment purchased a new stake in shares of MetLife in the 4th quarter valued at $28,425,000. Finally, MUFG Securities EMEA plc purchased a new stake in shares of MetLife in the 4th quarter valued at $20,831,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.81% of the company’s stock.

MetLife Trading Up 0.7 %

NYSE MET traded up $0.51 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $69.92. The company had a trading volume of 3,432,827 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,366,251. The company has a current ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. MetLife, Inc. has a one year low of $57.21 and a one year high of $74.68. The company has a market cap of $49.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 1.11. The company’s fifty day moving average is $71.05 and its 200-day moving average is $70.35.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $17.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.73 billion. MetLife had a net margin of 3.50% and a return on equity of 20.39%. MetLife’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.52 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that MetLife, Inc. will post 8.65 earnings per share for the current year.

MetLife Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 7th were paid a $0.545 dividend. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.12%. This is a positive change from MetLife’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 6th. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 74.91%.

MetLife declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, May 1st that allows the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to repurchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on MET shares. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on shares of MetLife from $88.00 to $83.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on shares of MetLife from $86.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of MetLife from $86.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 10th. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of MetLife from $85.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of MetLife from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $80.15.

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.