Hsbc Holdings PLC Buys 449,392 Shares of MetLife, Inc. $MET

Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its stake in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 29.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,991,153 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 449,392 shares during the quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC’s holdings in MetLife were worth $157,440,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of MetLife by 12.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 72,555,335 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,727,518,000 after acquiring an additional 7,805,814 shares in the last quarter. Dodge & Cox raised its holdings in MetLife by 0.9% in the third quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 53,659,664 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,419,947,000 after purchasing an additional 477,783 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in MetLife by 1.5% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,572,807 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,035,622,000 after purchasing an additional 180,683 shares in the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its position in MetLife by 22.9% during the fourth quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 11,883,338 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $938,071,000 after buying an additional 2,211,315 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of MetLife during the 4th quarter valued at $639,986,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MET. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of MetLife from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of MetLife from $103.00 to $99.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of MetLife from $89.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of MetLife from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. Finally, Mizuho set a $95.00 price target on MetLife in a research report on Friday, May 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $95.31.

MetLife Price Performance

MET opened at $85.76 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $55.18 billion, a PE ratio of 16.62, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.78. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $81.04 and a 200-day moving average price of $77.77. MetLife, Inc. has a 1 year low of $67.33 and a 1 year high of $89.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.20 and a quick ratio of 0.20.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.42 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $14.18 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.49 billion. MetLife had a net margin of 4.66% and a return on equity of 22.60%. MetLife’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.96 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 9th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th were paid a $0.5925 dividend. This is a boost from MetLife’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.37 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 12th. MetLife’s payout ratio is currently 45.93%.

MetLife Company 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.