Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Acquires 3,100 Shares of MetLife, Inc. $MET

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund lifted its holdings in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 3.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 105,115 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,100 shares during the period. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s holdings in MetLife were worth $8,453,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MET. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd lifted its holdings in MetLife by 8.7% in the 2nd quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 1,858,176 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $149,435,000 after purchasing an additional 148,881 shares in the last quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of MetLife by 34.1% during the second quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC now owns 4,297 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $346,000 after buying an additional 1,092 shares during the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MetLife by 11.4% in the second quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 3,851 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $310,000 after buying an additional 395 shares in the last quarter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd bought a new position in shares of MetLife during the second quarter worth $426,000. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in MetLife by 0.4% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,017,922 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $242,701,000 after acquiring an additional 11,143 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of MetLife from $100.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Piper Sandler downgraded MetLife from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $84.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Friday, September 19th. Wolfe Research raised MetLife to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on MetLife from $94.00 to $92.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on MetLife from $86.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, MetLife has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $95.18.

MetLife Stock Performance

NYSE:MET opened at $78.30 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $52.07 billion, a PE ratio of 13.27, a PEG ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.86. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $80.39 and its 200 day moving average is $78.53. MetLife, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $65.21 and a fifty-two week high of $89.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a current ratio of 0.16.

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

MetLife Dividend Announcement

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

MetLife Company 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.