GAMMA Investing LLC Purchases New Holdings in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new stake in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 3,395 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $235,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in MetLife by 678.4% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 287,311 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $19,000,000 after purchasing an additional 250,402 shares during the last quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd lifted its holdings in MetLife by 19.2% during the 4th quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 1,824,596 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $120,661,000 after buying an additional 293,925 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in MetLife by 9.9% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,664,012 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $176,304,000 after buying an additional 240,564 shares during the last quarter. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH lifted its holdings in MetLife by 13.1% during the 4th quarter. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH now owns 742,302 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $49,088,000 after buying an additional 86,091 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in MetLife by 50.0% during the 3rd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 8,856 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $557,000 after buying an additional 2,952 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.81% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at MetLife

In other MetLife news, EVP Bill Pappas sold 27,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.27, for a total transaction of $1,951,290.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 57,768 shares in the company, valued at $4,174,893.36. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, insider Ramy Tadros sold 4,026 shares of MetLife stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.90, for a total value of $289,469.40. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 146,981 shares in the company, valued at $10,567,933.90. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Bill Pappas sold 27,000 shares of MetLife stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.27, for a total value of $1,951,290.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 57,768 shares in the company, valued at $4,174,893.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

MetLife Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MET opened at $71.90 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $51.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.29, a PEG ratio of 0.55 and a beta of 1.04. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $71.41 and its 200 day simple moving average is $67.09. The company has a quick ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. MetLife, Inc. has a 52-week low of $48.95 and a 52-week high of $74.68.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 31st. The financial services provider reported $1.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.95 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $18.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.07 billion. MetLife had a net margin of 2.36% and a return on equity of 19.48%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that MetLife, Inc. will post 8.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.545 per share. This is a positive change from MetLife’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 6th. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 113.66%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MET has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group raised MetLife from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $70.00 to $80.00 in a report on Monday, January 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on MetLife from $82.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on MetLife from $83.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on MetLife from $74.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on MetLife from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, MetLife has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $79.23.

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.