MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) Shares Bought by Lbp Am Sa

Lbp Am Sa increased its position in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 30.7% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 23,946 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,628 shares during the quarter. Lbp Am Sa’s holdings in MetLife were worth $1,775,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new position in MetLife during the fourth quarter worth $558,460,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of MetLife by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,622,348 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,418,612,000 after buying an additional 1,974,268 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in MetLife by 20.9% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,053,851 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $268,090,000 after acquiring an additional 700,788 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its holdings in MetLife by 29.7% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 2,120,275 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $157,133,000 after acquiring an additional 485,811 shares during the period. Finally, Groupama Asset Managment acquired a new position in MetLife in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,425,000. 89.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on MET. Argus raised their price objective on shares of MetLife from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of MetLife from $86.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 10th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on MetLife from $82.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on MetLife from $83.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on MetLife from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $82.14.

MetLife Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE:MET traded down $1.07 during trading on Thursday, hitting $75.78. 5,387,932 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,330,495. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $71.90 and its 200-day moving average price is $71.16. MetLife, Inc. has a 12-month low of $57.91 and a 12-month high of $79.34. 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 $53.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.41, a PEG ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.11.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $2.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.13 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $17.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.57 billion. MetLife had a net margin of 3.50% and a return on equity of 20.39%. MetLife’s quarterly revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.94 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that MetLife, Inc. will post 8.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to purchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 6th will be paid a $0.545 dividend. This represents a $2.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 6th. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio is currently 74.91%.

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.