Vise Technologies Inc. Takes $2.19 Million Position in MetLife, Inc. $MET

Vise Technologies Inc. bought a new stake in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 25,844 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,187,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MET. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of MetLife by 12.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 72,555,335 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,727,518,000 after buying an additional 7,805,814 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of MetLife during the 2nd quarter valued at $4,381,692,000. Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in MetLife by 22.9% during the fourth quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 11,883,338 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $938,071,000 after acquiring an additional 2,211,315 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in MetLife in the fourth quarter worth $639,986,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in MetLife by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,012,198 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $553,543,000 after purchasing an additional 176,811 shares during the period. 94.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

MetLife Stock Performance

MET opened at $94.44 on Friday. MetLife, Inc. has a 1-year low of $67.33 and a 1-year high of $100.93. The company has a market cap of $60.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.09, a PEG ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 0.78. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $92.41 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $82.17. The company has a current ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 0.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The financial services provider reported $2.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $13.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.67 billion. MetLife had a net margin of 4.57% and a return on equity of 23.39%. The business’s revenue was up 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.02 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MetLife announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, August 5th that authorizes the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to purchase up to 4.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 8th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.5925 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 4th. This represents a $2.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. MetLife’s payout ratio is 45.40%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MET has been the topic of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of MetLife from $101.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Atlantic Securities set a $103.00 target price on MetLife in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Wall Street Zen raised MetLife from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on MetLife from $97.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on MetLife from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $101.64.

MetLife Company Profile

MetLife, Inc is a global provider of insurance, annuities and employee benefit programs. Headquartered in New York City, the company offers a range of risk protection and retirement solutions to individuals, employers and institutional clients. Its core businesses include life insurance, group benefits, retirement products such as annuities, and supplemental health products including dental and disability coverage.

In addition to traditional life and group insurance, MetLife provides workplace benefits and voluntary products distributed through employer-sponsored programs.