Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC Grows Stock Holdings in MetLife, Inc. $MET

Key Points

• Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC increased its stake in MetLife by 154.8% in Q3, purchasing 45,447 shares to hold 74,806 shares valued at about $6.16 million.
• Institutional ownership is high at 94.99%, with other large managers also adding exposure — notably Thrivent (1.176M shares, ~$96.9M), Arrowstreet (+188.1% to 417,515 shares) and Providence (new ~$6.65M position).
• Analysts have a consensus Buy rating with an average target of $94.18, and MetLife recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.5675 per share (annualized $2.27, ~3.2% yield).

Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC increased its holdings in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET - Free Report) by 154.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 74,806 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 45,447 shares during the period. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC's holdings in MetLife were worth $6,162,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Allworth Financial LP grew its stake in shares of MetLife by 13.4% during the 2nd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 10,893 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $876,000 after purchasing an additional 1,285 shares during the period. Providence Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of MetLife in the 3rd quarter valued at $6,649,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in MetLife by 188.1% during the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 417,515 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $33,577,000 after buying an additional 272,619 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its holdings in MetLife by 8.9% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,176,469 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $96,905,000 after buying an additional 96,523 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co grew its position in MetLife by 21.9% during the third quarter. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 137,956 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $11,363,000 after buying an additional 24,800 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 commented on the company. Barclays set a $90.00 target price on MetLife in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Evercore set a $95.00 price objective on MetLife in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. Mizuho set a $100.00 price objective on MetLife in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. UBS Group upped their target price on MetLife from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of MetLife from $97.00 to $93.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MetLife currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $94.18.

MetLife Price Performance

NYSE:MET opened at $70.71 on Tuesday. MetLife, Inc. has a one year low of $65.21 and a one year high of $85.00. The stock has a market cap of $46.11 billion, a PE ratio of 15.04, a P/E/G ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.20 and a current ratio of 0.20. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $77.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $78.66.

MetLife (NYSE:MET - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.34 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $52.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $31.43 billion. MetLife had a net margin of 4.38% and a return on equity of 21.81%. MetLife's revenue was up 27.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.08 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.5675 per share. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 3rd. MetLife's dividend payout ratio is 48.30%.

About MetLife

MetLife, Inc is a global provider of insurance, annuities and employee benefit programs. Headquartered in New York City, the company offers a range of risk protection and retirement solutions to individuals, employers and institutional clients. Its core businesses include life insurance, group benefits, retirement products such as annuities, and supplemental health products including dental and disability coverage.

In addition to traditional life and group insurance, MetLife provides workplace benefits and voluntary products distributed through employer-sponsored programs.

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