Axxcess Wealth Management LLC Boosts Stake in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Axxcess Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET - Free Report) by 15.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 24,800 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 3,326 shares during the quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC's holdings in MetLife were worth $1,991,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MET. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of MetLife in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $730,716,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in MetLife by 33.7% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 24,663,239 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,019,427,000 after purchasing an additional 6,213,923 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its holdings in MetLife by 43.7% during the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 5,663,177 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $463,701,000 after purchasing an additional 1,723,461 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in MetLife by 15.7% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,052,202 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $577,434,000 after purchasing an additional 958,458 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in MetLife by 8,789.6% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 815,889 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $65,508,000 after purchasing an additional 806,711 shares during the last quarter. 94.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MET has been the subject of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on MetLife from $86.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on MetLife from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on MetLife from $92.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. UBS Group lifted their price objective on MetLife from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on MetLife from $88.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $95.58.

MetLife Stock Performance

MetLife stock opened at $78.34 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $52.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.74, a PEG ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 0.85. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $78.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $80.05. MetLife, Inc. has a 52 week low of $65.21 and a 52 week high of $89.05. The company has a current ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55.

MetLife (NYSE:MET - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.96 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.00 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $18.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.06 billion. MetLife had a net margin of 6.08% and a return on equity of 20.89%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 15.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.83 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current year.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 9th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 5th will be paid a $0.5675 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 5th. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.90%. MetLife's payout ratio is currently 36.91%.

MetLife declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, April 30th that allows the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to purchase up to 5.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.

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