Burney Co. Raises Holdings in MetLife, Inc. $MET

Burney Co. increased its position in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 69,076 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 908 shares during the quarter. Burney Co.’s holdings in MetLife were worth $5,555,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kathmere Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in MetLife by 88.2% during the second quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 6,328 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $509,000 after buying an additional 2,965 shares during the last quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI acquired a new position in MetLife during the first quarter worth $12,060,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in MetLife by 13.4% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,050,921 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $84,378,000 after buying an additional 123,947 shares during the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP boosted its stake in MetLife by 136.0% during the first quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 14,721 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,182,000 after buying an additional 8,482 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bell Bank acquired a new position in MetLife during the second quarter worth $267,000. 94.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MetLife Price Performance

MET opened at $79.21 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $80.32 and its 200 day moving average price is $78.72. MetLife, Inc. has a 12-month low of $65.21 and a 12-month high of $89.05. The company has a current ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The firm has a market cap of $52.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.42, a PEG ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 0.86.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.32 by ($0.30). MetLife had a return on equity of 19.88% and a net margin of 5.83%.The firm had revenue of $17.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.58 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.28 EPS. MetLife’s revenue was down 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 9th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.5675 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 4th. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio is presently 38.47%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on MET shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of MetLife in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of MetLife in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on MetLife from $94.00 to $92.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on MetLife from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised MetLife to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $95.18.

MetLife Profile

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.