Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. Purchases 1,810 Shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. increased its position in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 102.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,574 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,810 shares during the quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in MetLife were worth $287,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in MetLife by 33.7% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 24,663,239 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,019,427,000 after buying an additional 6,213,923 shares during the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in MetLife in the 1st quarter valued at about $336,965,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in MetLife by 15.7% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,052,202 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $577,434,000 after purchasing an additional 958,458 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in MetLife by 8,789.6% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 815,889 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $65,508,000 after purchasing an additional 806,711 shares during the period. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in MetLife in the 4th quarter valued at about $62,265,000. 94.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MET has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of MetLife from $86.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on shares of MetLife from $95.00 to $94.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of MetLife from $94.00 to $91.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $98.00 price objective (down previously from $99.00) on shares of MetLife in a report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $97.00 price target (up previously from $94.00) on shares of MetLife in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $95.40.

MetLife Stock Performance

Shares of MetLife stock opened at $76.25 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $51.19 billion, a PE ratio of 12.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a current ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The company has a 50 day moving average of $78.09 and a 200-day moving average of $79.05. MetLife, Inc. has a 1-year low of $65.21 and a 1-year high of $89.05.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.32 by ($0.30). The company had revenue of $17.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.58 billion. MetLife had a net margin of 5.83% and a return on equity of 19.95%. MetLife’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.28 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 9th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 5th will be paid a $0.5675 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 5th. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio is presently 38.47%.

MetLife declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, April 30th that authorizes the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to buy up to 5.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.