Point72 Hong Kong Ltd Makes New Investment in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Point72 Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 13,935 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,141,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in MET. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of MetLife in the 4th quarter worth about $730,716,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position 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 in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in MetLife by 109.2% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,826,658 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $722,727,000 after buying an additional 4,606,748 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its position in MetLife by 43.7% in the 4th quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 5,663,177 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $463,701,000 after buying an additional 1,723,461 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB increased its position in MetLife by 76.0% in the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 3,466,808 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $283,862,000 after buying an additional 1,496,645 shares in the last quarter. 94.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on MET. Barclays decreased their target price on MetLife from $95.00 to $88.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on MetLife from $92.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com raised MetLife from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of MetLife in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on MetLife from $88.00 to $86.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, MetLife has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $92.69.

MetLife Stock Performance

Shares of MET opened at $80.42 on Friday. 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 stock has a 50 day moving average of $76.99 and a 200 day moving average of $81.15. MetLife, Inc. has a 12 month low of $65.21 and a 12 month high of $89.05. The company has a market capitalization of $53.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.47, a PEG ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 0.85.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.00 by ($0.04). MetLife had a return on equity of 20.42% and a net margin of 6.19%. The firm had revenue of $18.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.06 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.83 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current year.

MetLife Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 6th will be given a $0.5675 dividend. This is an increase from MetLife’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 6th. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.91%.

MetLife declared that its Board of Directors has authorized 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 repurchase up to 5.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.