Ethic Inc. Has $9.25 Million Stake in MetLife, Inc. $MET

Ethic Inc. grew its stake in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 6.9% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 115,127 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 7,405 shares during the period. Ethic Inc.’s holdings in MetLife were worth $9,253,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MET. North Capital Inc. bought a new position in shares of MetLife during the 1st quarter worth about $26,000. Motco lifted its holdings in shares of MetLife by 105.5% during the 1st quarter. Motco now owns 413 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 212 shares during the period. GFG Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of MetLife during the 2nd quarter worth about $38,000. Abound Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of MetLife by 652.3% during the 2nd quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 489 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 424 shares during the period. Finally, Legend Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of MetLife during the 2nd quarter worth about $40,000. 94.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on MET shares. Piper Sandler downgraded shares of MetLife from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $84.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Friday, September 19th. Wolfe Research raised shares of MetLife to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 16th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of MetLife from $94.00 to $91.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of MetLife in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of MetLife from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $95.18.

MetLife Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of NYSE MET opened at $78.58 on Thursday. MetLife, Inc. has a 1-year low of $65.21 and a 1-year high of $89.05. The company has a market cap of $52.26 billion, a PE ratio of 13.32, a P/E/G ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.86. 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 company has a 50-day moving average of $80.34 and a two-hundred day moving average of $78.18.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last announced its earnings results 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 return on equity of 19.88% and a net margin of 5.83%.The company had revenue of $17.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.58 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.28 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

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

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.