Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co Purchases Shares of 14,900 MetLife, Inc. $MET

Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co purchased a new stake in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 14,900 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,261,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MET. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in MetLife by 12.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 72,555,335 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,727,518,000 after buying an additional 7,805,814 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of MetLife during the 2nd quarter worth $4,381,692,000. Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of MetLife by 22.9% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of MetLife during the 4th quarter valued at $639,986,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of MetLife by 2.6% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

MetLife Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of MET stock opened at $94.44 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 0.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $60.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 0.78. MetLife, Inc. has a 12-month low of $67.33 and a 12-month high of $100.93. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $92.41 and its 200-day moving average price is $82.19.

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

MetLife announced that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, August 5th that allows the company to buyback $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to reacquire up to 4.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 8th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 4th will be issued a $0.5925 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 4th. This represents a $2.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.40%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on MET. TD Cowen raised their target price on MetLife from $87.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Piper Sandler upped their price target on MetLife from $86.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. UBS Group raised their price objective on MetLife from $102.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Wall Street Zen raised MetLife from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on MetLife from $101.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $101.64.

MetLife 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.