Summit Trail Advisors LLC Boosts Holdings in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Summit Trail Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 9.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,154 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 536 shares during the quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC’s holdings in MetLife were worth $407,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MET. Pzena Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in MetLife by 118.1% during the 3rd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 10,108,992 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $635,957,000 after purchasing an additional 5,474,449 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of MetLife by 3.9% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,440,583 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $468,087,000 after acquiring an additional 276,364 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of MetLife by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,829,965 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $366,763,000 after acquiring an additional 17,375 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of MetLife by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,774,122 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $237,430,000 after acquiring an additional 22,031 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in MetLife by 15.3% in the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,724,805 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $234,327,000 after acquiring an additional 495,027 shares in the last quarter. 89.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

MetLife Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of MET stock opened at $71.37 on Wednesday. MetLife, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $48.95 and a fifty-two week high of $74.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $50.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.49, a P/E/G ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $71.76 and a 200 day simple moving average of $67.65.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The financial services provider reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83. The company had revenue of $17.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.73 billion. MetLife had a return on equity of 20.39% and a net margin of 3.50%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.52 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that MetLife, Inc. will post 8.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MetLife declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, May 1st that authorizes the company to buyback $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to buy up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

MetLife Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 7th will be paid a $0.545 dividend. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 6th. This is a positive change from MetLife’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio is currently 71.48%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group cut their target price on MetLife from $87.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 5th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on MetLife from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on MetLife from $83.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. StockNews.com raised shares of MetLife from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of MetLife from $87.00 to $86.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $78.92.

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.