Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. Increases Stake in MetLife, Inc. $MET

Key Points

• Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its stake in MetLife by 3.7%, owning a total of 958,867 shares worth approximately $76.99 million following the purchase of 33,994 additional shares.
• MetLife reported Q2 earnings of $2.02 EPS, missing estimates of $2.32, with revenue of $17.34 billion, below expectations of $18.58 billion.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.5675 per share, yielding 2.8%, payable on September 9th to shareholders of record on August 5th.

Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its position in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET - Free Report) by 3.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 958,867 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 33,994 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. owned 0.14% of MetLife worth $76,987,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MET. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in MetLife by 9.0% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 4,240 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $347,000 after acquiring an additional 351 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. raised its holdings in MetLife by 37.5% in the fourth quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 21,875 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,791,000 after buying an additional 5,965 shares during the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors raised its holdings in MetLife by 12.9% in the fourth quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 50,229 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $4,113,000 after buying an additional 5,729 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its holdings in MetLife by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 189,333 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $15,503,000 after buying an additional 4,149 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Concentric Capital Strategies LP purchased a new position in shares of MetLife during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,693,000. Institutional investors own 94.99% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of MetLife from $98.00 to $94.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of MetLife from $94.00 to $92.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 11th. UBS Group cut 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. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of MetLife from $88.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Finally, Cowen restated a "buy" rating on shares of MetLife in a research report on Friday, August 22nd. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $95.60.

MetLife Price Performance

Shares of MET stock traded down $0.28 on Tuesday, hitting $79.32. 2,421,678 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,369,593. The firm has a market cap of $52.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.44, a PEG ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.87. MetLife, Inc. has a 52 week low of $65.21 and a 52 week high of $89.05. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $78.25 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $78.32. 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 (NYSE:MET - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $17.34 billion for 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.28 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 9th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 5th will be paid a $0.5675 dividend. 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 is currently 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.