MetLife, Inc. $MET Shares Purchased by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its stake in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 1.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,190,426 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 13,957 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in MetLife were worth $93,972,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in MetLife by 12.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 72,555,335 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,727,518,000 after acquiring an additional 7,805,814 shares during the period. Dodge & Cox grew its stake in MetLife by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 53,659,664 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,419,947,000 after acquiring an additional 477,783 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in MetLife by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,572,807 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,035,622,000 after acquiring an additional 180,683 shares during the period. Pzena Investment Management LLC grew its stake in MetLife by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 9,672,023 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $796,685,000 after acquiring an additional 527,388 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in MetLife by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,746,341 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $640,357,000 after acquiring an additional 352,395 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of MetLife from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of MetLife from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of MetLife from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Mizuho set a $95.00 target price on shares of MetLife in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of MetLife from $101.00 to $93.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $95.15.

MetLife Stock Up 0.8%

NYSE MET opened at $79.79 on Friday. MetLife, Inc. has a 52 week low of $67.33 and a 52 week high of $83.85. The company has a quick ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 0.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $73.91 and its 200-day simple moving average is $76.54. The firm has a market cap of $51.34 billion, a PE ratio of 15.46, a P/E/G ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 0.78.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.42 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.15. MetLife had a return on equity of 22.60% and a net margin of 4.66%.The business had revenue of $14.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.49 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.96 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.92 earnings per share for the current year.

MetLife Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 9th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 12th will be issued a $0.5925 dividend. This is an increase from MetLife’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 12th. This represents a $2.37 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. MetLife’s payout ratio is presently 45.93%.

MetLife Profile

MetLife, Inc is a global provider of insurance, annuities and employee benefit programs. Headquartered in New York City, the company offers a range of risk protection and retirement solutions to individuals, employers and institutional clients. Its core businesses include life insurance, group benefits, retirement products such as annuities, and supplemental health products including dental and disability coverage.

In addition to traditional life and group insurance, MetLife provides workplace benefits and voluntary products distributed through employer-sponsored programs.