Lbp Am Sa Buys Shares of 51,401 MetLife, Inc. $MET

Lbp Am Sa bought a new stake in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 51,401 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,134,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in MET. Kathmere Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of MetLife by 88.2% during the 2nd quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 6,328 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $509,000 after purchasing an additional 2,965 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of MetLife by 4.8% during the 1st quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 422,684 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $33,937,000 after purchasing an additional 19,192 shares during the period. Ritholtz Wealth Management raised its stake in shares of MetLife by 52.1% during the 1st quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 9,355 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $751,000 after purchasing an additional 3,204 shares during the period. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc bought a new stake in shares of MetLife during the 1st quarter valued at $255,000. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of MetLife by 20.7% during the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 60,785 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,735,000 after purchasing an additional 10,414 shares during the period. 94.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

MetLife Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MET opened at $82.06 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $54.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.91, a P/E/G ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a quick ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $78.96 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $78.20. MetLife, Inc. has a twelve month low of $65.21 and a twelve month high of $89.05.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.58 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.28 earnings per share. MetLife’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 9th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 5th were issued a $0.5675 dividend. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 5th. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio is presently 38.47%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on MET. Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of MetLife in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on MetLife from $98.00 to $94.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased 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. Barclays upped their target price on MetLife from $88.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $97.00 target price (up from $94.00) on shares of MetLife in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MetLife presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $94.64.

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.