Machina Capital S.A.S. Invests $1.56 Million in MetLife, Inc. $MET

Machina Capital S.A.S. bought a new position in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 19,349 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,556,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of MetLife by 7.4% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 26,488,146 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,126,734,000 after buying an additional 1,824,907 shares during the period. Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of MetLife by 6.8% in the second quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 9,144,635 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $735,412,000 after buying an additional 585,671 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in shares of MetLife by 3.6% in the first quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,406,512 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $594,410,000 after buying an additional 259,993 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in MetLife by 0.8% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,109,423 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $570,816,000 after purchasing an additional 57,221 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in MetLife by 3.7% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,671,435 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $535,568,000 after purchasing an additional 236,698 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

MetLife Price Performance

NYSE MET opened at $79.21 on Tuesday. MetLife, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $65.21 and a fifty-two week high of $89.05. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $80.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is $78.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.16 and a quick ratio of 0.16. The firm has a market cap of $52.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 0.86.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.32 by ($0.30). MetLife had a net margin of 5.83% and a return on equity of 19.88%. The company had revenue of $17.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.58 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.28 earnings per share. MetLife’s quarterly revenue was down 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 9th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 4th will be paid a $0.5675 dividend. The ex-dividend date 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 presently 38.47%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on MetLife from $86.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Barclays lifted their price objective on MetLife from $93.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Piper Sandler cut MetLife from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $84.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Friday, September 19th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on MetLife from $94.00 to $91.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of MetLife in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MetLife has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $95.18.

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.