Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ Has $30.45 Million Stake in MetLife, Inc. $MET

Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ increased its stake in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 31.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 369,648 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 88,163 shares during the quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ’s holdings in MetLife were worth $30,448,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MET. Norges Bank acquired a new position in MetLife in the 2nd quarter valued at $756,104,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in MetLife by 13.3% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,749,521 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,333,418,000 after acquiring an additional 7,578,199 shares during the period. ABN AMRO Bank N.V. acquired a new stake in shares of MetLife in the second quarter valued at about $178,669,000. Amundi increased its stake in shares of MetLife by 40.2% in the second quarter. Amundi now owns 4,507,362 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $361,265,000 after purchasing an additional 1,292,107 shares during the period. Finally, Man Group plc lifted its position in shares of MetLife by 325.5% during the 2nd quarter. Man Group plc now owns 1,344,551 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $108,129,000 after purchasing an additional 1,028,554 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MET has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group lifted their price target on MetLife from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Mizuho set a $100.00 target price on shares of MetLife in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Evercore set a $95.00 price target on shares of MetLife in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. Barclays set a $90.00 price target on shares of MetLife in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $101.00 price objective on shares of MetLife and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $95.27.

MetLife Price Performance

NYSE:MET opened at $78.50 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.18 and a current ratio of 0.20. The company has a 50-day moving average of $78.91 and a 200-day moving average of $78.87. MetLife, Inc. has a 52 week low of $65.21 and a 52 week high of $87.39. The company has a market capitalization of $51.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.70, a PEG ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 0.77.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.34 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $18.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $31.43 billion. MetLife had a net margin of 4.38% and a return on equity of 21.81%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 27.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.08 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 3rd will be paid a $0.5675 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 3rd. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. MetLife’s payout ratio is currently 48.30%.

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.