Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC Invests $724,000 in MetLife, Inc. $MET

Key Points

• Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC has made a new investment in MetLife, purchasing 9,011 shares valued at approximately $724,000 in the first quarter.
• Analysts have varying price targets for MetLife, with Jefferies raising its target to $103.00, while other firms like UBS and Morgan Stanley have cut their targets to $91.00 and $94.00, respectively.
• MetLife recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.5675 per share, which reflects an annualized yield of 2.8% and a dividend payout ratio of 38.47%.

Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 9,011 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $724,000.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on MET shares. Barclays increased their price target on shares of MetLife from $88.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, July 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on shares of MetLife from $94.00 to $92.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of MetLife from $86.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of MetLife from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $97.00 target price (up from $94.00) on shares of MetLife in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $95.60.

MetLife Price Performance

Shares of MET stock traded down $2.24 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $79.51. 4,830,111 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,820,923. The company has a market capitalization of $52.87 billion, a PE ratio of 13.48, a PEG ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.87. MetLife, Inc. has a 12-month low of $65.21 and a 12-month high of $89.05. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $78.26 and its 200-day simple moving average is $78.36. The company has a current ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57.

MetLife (NYSE:MET - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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). The business had revenue of $17.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $18.58 billion. MetLife had a return on equity of 19.88% and a net margin of 5.83%.The company's revenue was down 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.28 earnings per share. On average, 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 9th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.5675 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 5th. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. MetLife's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 38.47%.

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.