Koenig Investment Advisory LLC Acquires Shares of 39,201 MetLife, Inc. $MET

Koenig Investment Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 39,201 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,977,000. MetLife accounts for 2.4% of Koenig Investment Advisory LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest position.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of MET. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in MetLife by 12.1% in 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. Dodge & Cox boosted its stake in shares of MetLife by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 53,659,664 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,419,947,000 after purchasing an additional 477,783 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in MetLife by 1.5% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,572,807 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,035,622,000 after buying an additional 180,683 shares in the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in MetLife by 22.9% in 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 buying an additional 2,211,315 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of MetLife during the 4th quarter worth approximately $639,986,000. 94.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Mizuho set a $95.00 price objective on shares of MetLife in a report on Friday, May 8th. TD Cowen cut their price target on MetLife from $91.00 to $88.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. Weiss Ratings raised MetLife from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Monday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on MetLife from $87.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their target price on MetLife from $103.00 to $99.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. One 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $95.31.

MetLife Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of NYSE MET opened at $85.76 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $81.04 and its 200-day moving average price is $77.77. The company has a market cap of $55.18 billion, a PE ratio of 16.62, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.78. MetLife, Inc. has a 52-week low of $67.33 and a 52-week high of $89.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.20 and a current ratio of 0.20.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.15. MetLife had a net margin of 4.66% and a return on equity of 22.60%. The company had revenue of $14.18 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.49 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.96 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 9th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th were paid a dividend of $0.5925 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 12th. This represents a $2.37 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. This is a positive change from MetLife’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.93%.

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.