Freestone Grove Partners LP Purchases New Shares in MetLife, Inc. $MET

Freestone Grove Partners LP purchased a new position in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 1,183,835 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $100,164,000. MetLife makes up 0.6% of Freestone Grove Partners LP’s holdings, making the stock its 25th largest holding.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MET. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of MetLife by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC now owns 26,953 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,128,000 after acquiring an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of MetLife by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 10,156 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $802,000 after acquiring an additional 135 shares in the last quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of MetLife by 2.4% in the first quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 5,813 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $411,000 after acquiring an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Worth Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in MetLife by 3.1% in the second quarter. Worth Asset Management LLC now owns 4,551 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $385,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bleakley Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in MetLife by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 29,687 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,343,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on MET shares. Barclays lifted their price objective on MetLife from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. TD Cowen increased their target price on MetLife from $87.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of MetLife from $102.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of MetLife from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Monday, June 15th. Finally, Evercore reaffirmed a “mixed” rating on shares of MetLife in a report on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $102.21.

MetLife Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of NYSE MET opened at $96.62 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 0.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $62.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.51, a PEG ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 0.78. MetLife, Inc. has a 52-week low of $67.33 and a 52-week high of $100.93. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $92.96 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $82.60.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The financial services provider reported $2.43 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.13. MetLife had a net margin of 4.57% and a return on equity of 23.39%. The business had revenue of $13.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.67 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.02 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 8th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 4th will be issued a $0.5925 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 4th. This represents a $2.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 45.40%.

MetLife announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, August 5th that authorizes the company to buyback $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to purchase up to 4.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.