Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI Acquires New Position in MetLife, Inc. $MET

Key Points

• Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI has acquired 150,202 shares of MetLife, Inc., totaling approximately $12.06 million.
• Several institutional investors, including Price T Rowe Associates and Bank of New York Mellon Corp, have recently increased their holdings in MetLife, indicating strong institutional interest with 94.99% of the stock owned by such investors.
• MetLife's latest quarterly earnings report showed a miss on earnings per share, reporting $2.02 compared to the expected $2.32, alongside a revenue decline of 2.7% year-over-year.

Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI bought a new stake in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 150,202 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $12,060,000.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Csenge Advisory Group lifted its stake in MetLife by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 13,647 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,096,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares during the last quarter. Delta Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in MetLife by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Delta Investment Management LLC now owns 14,265 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,145,000 after purchasing an additional 133 shares during the last quarter. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. lifted its position in MetLife by 2.5% during the first quarter. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. now owns 6,463 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $519,000 after acquiring an additional 159 shares during the last quarter. Unigestion Holding SA lifted its position in MetLife by 0.7% during the first quarter. Unigestion Holding SA now owns 23,661 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,900,000 after acquiring an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Davis R M Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of MetLife by 5.3% during the first quarter. Davis R M Inc. now owns 3,315 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $266,000 after acquiring an additional 167 shares during the period. 94.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on MetLife from $94.00 to $92.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 11th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on MetLife from $94.00 to $91.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on MetLife from $98.00 to $94.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 18th. Wall Street Zen cut MetLife from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, May 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on MetLife from $86.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $95.60.

MetLife Stock Performance

Shares of MET traded up $0.52 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $80.86. 2,314,200 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,642,683. MetLife, Inc. has a 52 week low of $65.21 and a 52 week high of $89.05. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $78.24 and its 200-day simple moving average is $78.32. The firm has a market cap of $53.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a quick ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57.

MetLife (NYSE:MET - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.32 by ($0.30). MetLife had a return on equity of 19.88% and a net margin of 5.83%.The business had revenue of $17.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.58 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.28 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 EPS for the current year.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 9th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 5th were issued a dividend of $0.5675 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 5th. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. MetLife's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 38.47%.

MetLife Company 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.