HB Wealth Management LLC Buys 9,742 Shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

HB Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET - Free Report) by 47.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 30,162 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 9,742 shares during the period. HB Wealth Management LLC's holdings in MetLife were worth $2,422,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Marietta Investment Partners LLC grew its position in MetLife by 7.4% during the 1st quarter. Marietta Investment Partners LLC now owns 3,356 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $269,000 after acquiring an additional 230 shares during the last quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ grew its position in MetLife by 5.5% during the 1st quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 130,058 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $10,442,000 after acquiring an additional 6,771 shares during the last quarter. Stevens Capital Management LP grew its position in MetLife by 230.4% during the 1st quarter. Stevens Capital Management LP now owns 22,947 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,842,000 after acquiring an additional 16,001 shares during the last quarter. Freemont Management S.A. grew its position in MetLife by 82.9% during the 1st quarter. Freemont Management S.A. now owns 23,600 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,895,000 after acquiring an additional 10,700 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers grew its position in MetLife by 16.5% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 220,540 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $17,707,000 after acquiring an additional 31,207 shares during the last quarter. 94.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on MET shares. UBS Group increased their price target on MetLife from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on MetLife from $95.00 to $94.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on MetLife from $99.00 to $98.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on MetLife from $86.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on MetLife from $88.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, July 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $96.09.

MetLife Stock Performance

NYSE MET opened at $77.64 on Tuesday. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $78.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $79.63. The stock has a market cap of $52.12 billion, a PE ratio of 12.62, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.85. MetLife, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $65.21 and a fifty-two week high of $89.05. 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 (NYSE:MET - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.96 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.00 by ($0.04). MetLife had a return on equity of 20.89% and a net margin of 6.08%. The business had revenue of $18.57 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.06 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.83 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 15.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MetLife declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, April 30th that authorizes the company to buyback $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to reacquire up to 5.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 9th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 5th will be given a dividend of $0.5675 per share. 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 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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