International Assets Investment Management LLC Acquires Shares of 14,885 MetLife, Inc. $MET

Key Points

• International Assets Investment Management disclosed a new first-quarter position in MetLife, buying 14,885 shares valued at about $1.053 million.
• MetLife continues to attract heavy institutional interest, with 94.99% of the stock owned by hedge funds and other institutions; major holders like Vanguard and Pzena also increased their stakes.
• Analysts remain generally positive on MET: the consensus rating is Moderate Buy with an average price target of $98.23, while MetLife recently reported earnings of $2.42 per share and announced a quarterly dividend of $0.5925 per share.

International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 14,885 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,053,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MET. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of MetLife by 12.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 72,555,335 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $5,727,518,000 after purchasing an additional 7,805,814 shares during the period. Pzena Investment Management LLC increased its position in MetLife by 22.9% during the fourth quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 11,883,338 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $938,071,000 after buying an additional 2,211,315 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in MetLife during the fourth quarter worth approximately $639,986,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in MetLife by 4.8% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,746,341 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $640,357,000 after buying an additional 352,395 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of MetLife by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,012,198 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $553,543,000 after acquiring an additional 176,811 shares during the period. 94.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MET. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of MetLife from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of MetLife from $95.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of MetLife from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of MetLife from $86.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of MetLife from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $98.23.

MetLife Stock Up 1.5%

MET opened at $93.04 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.20 and a quick ratio of 0.20. MetLife, Inc. has a 12 month low of $67.33 and a 12 month high of $93.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $59.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.03, a P/E/G ratio of 0.69 and a beta of 0.78. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $84.69 and a 200-day simple moving average of $78.71.

MetLife (NYSE:MET - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $14.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.49 billion. MetLife had a return on equity of 22.60% and a net margin of 4.66%.MetLife's quarterly revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.96 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 8th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.5925 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 4th. This represents a $2.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. MetLife's dividend payout ratio is 45.93%.

MetLife Profile

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding MET? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.