Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Has $8.19 Million Stock Holdings in MetLife, Inc. $MET

Key Points

• Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund has reduced its stake in MetLife by 41.2%, selling 71,500 shares and now holding 102,015 shares valued at approximately $8.19 million.
• Analysts maintain a mostly positive outlook on MetLife, with ten analysts rating the stock as a buy and a consensus price target of $96.00.
• MetLife recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.5675 that reflects a 2.9% dividend yield and has also initiated a stock repurchase program worth $3.00 billion.

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund reduced its stake in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET - Free Report) by 41.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 102,015 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 71,500 shares during the quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund's holdings in MetLife were worth $8,191,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 6,213,923 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of MetLife by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,862,835 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $711,597,000 after buying an additional 36,177 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of MetLife by 15.7% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,052,202 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $577,434,000 after buying an additional 958,458 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of MetLife by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,462,541 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $518,877,000 after buying an additional 87,344 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of MetLife by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,434,737 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $526,869,000 after buying an additional 290,734 shares in the last quarter. 94.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on MET shares. Wells Fargo & Company restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $97.00 price objective (up previously from $94.00) on shares of MetLife in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of MetLife from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 24th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of MetLife from $94.00 to $91.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of MetLife from $86.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of MetLife from $100.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, August 11th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $95.60.

MetLife Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of NYSE MET traded up $0.8670 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $78.6070. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,427,508 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,407,049. The stock has a market cap of $52.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.69 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.16 and a quick ratio of 0.16. MetLife, Inc. has a one year low of $65.21 and a one year high of $89.05. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $77.84 and its 200-day simple moving average is $78.60.

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

MetLife Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 9th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 5th will be given a $0.5675 dividend. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 5th. MetLife's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 38.47%.

MetLife announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, April 30th that permits the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to purchase up to 5.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company's board of directors 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.