Ballentine Partners LLC Acquires 3,449 Shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET - Free Report) by 32.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 14,207 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 3,449 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC's holdings in MetLife were worth $1,141,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MET. Norges Bank purchased a new position in MetLife during the 4th quarter worth approximately $730,716,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in MetLife by 33.7% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 24,663,239 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,019,427,000 after acquiring an additional 6,213,923 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its stake in MetLife by 43.7% in the 4th quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 5,663,177 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $463,701,000 after acquiring an additional 1,723,461 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in MetLife by 15.7% during the 4th 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 boosted its stake in MetLife by 8,789.6% during the 1st 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 institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on MET. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on MetLife from $94.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, May 19th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of MetLife from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on MetLife from $95.00 to $94.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Barclays upped their price target on MetLife from $88.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, July 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price target on MetLife from $92.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $95.58.

MetLife Trading Down 0.9%

Shares of MET stock opened at $77.69 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a current ratio of 0.16. MetLife, Inc. has a 1 year low of $65.21 and a 1 year high of $89.05. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $78.98 and a two-hundred day moving average of $79.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $52.15 billion, a PE ratio of 12.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 0.85.

MetLife (NYSE:MET - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.96 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $2.00 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $18.57 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.06 billion. MetLife had a return on equity of 20.89% and a net margin of 6.08%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 15.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.83 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 EPS for the current year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 9th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 5th will be paid a $0.5675 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 5th. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.92%. MetLife's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.91%.

MetLife announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, April 30th that authorizes the company to buyback $3.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to buy up to 5.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

About MetLife

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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