MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) Shares Purchased by Waverly Advisors LLC

Waverly Advisors LLC raised its holdings in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 44.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 23,024 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,033 shares during the period. Waverly Advisors LLC’s holdings in MetLife were worth $1,885,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in MET. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in MetLife by 33.7% in the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 6,213,923 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in MetLife by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,931,536 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $973,901,000 after buying an additional 158,107 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of MetLife during the 4th quarter valued at about $730,716,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of MetLife by 109.2% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,826,658 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $722,727,000 after acquiring an additional 4,606,748 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of MetLife by 15.7% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,052,202 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $577,434,000 after acquiring an additional 958,458 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MET has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of MetLife from $92.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on MetLife from $98.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on MetLife from $91.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on MetLife from $88.00 to $86.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of MetLife in a research note on Friday, March 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $94.17.

MetLife Price Performance

MET stock opened at $77.60 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $52.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a current ratio of 0.16. MetLife, Inc. has a 1 year low of $65.21 and a 1 year high of $89.05. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $76.98 and a 200-day simple moving average of $81.13.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.00 by ($0.04). MetLife had a net margin of 6.19% and a return on equity of 20.42%. The firm had revenue of $18.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.06 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.83 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 15.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MetLife announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, April 30th that allows the company to buyback $3.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to purchase up to 5.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

MetLife Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 6th will be issued a $0.5675 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 6th. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.93%. This is a positive change from MetLife’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. MetLife’s payout ratio is currently 36.91%.

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.