Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. Acquires 3,726 Shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its holdings in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET - Free Report) by 35.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,365 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 3,726 shares during the period. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.'s holdings in MetLife were worth $1,153,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MET. Norges Bank bought a new position in MetLife in the 4th quarter worth approximately $730,716,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in MetLife by 33.7% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 24,663,239 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,019,427,000 after buying an additional 6,213,923 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in MetLife by 109.2% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,826,658 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $722,727,000 after buying an additional 4,606,748 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its position in MetLife by 43.7% in the 4th quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 5,663,177 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $463,701,000 after buying an additional 1,723,461 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of MetLife by 15.7% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,052,202 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $577,434,000 after purchasing an additional 958,458 shares in the last quarter. 94.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

MetLife Price Performance

Shares of MET stock opened at $79.15 on Friday. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $77.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $80.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.16 and a quick ratio of 0.16. The firm has a market cap of $53.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.87, a P/E/G ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 0.86. MetLife, Inc. has a one year low of $65.21 and a one year high of $89.05.

MetLife (NYSE:MET - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.96 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.00 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $18.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.06 billion. MetLife had a net margin of 6.08% and a return on equity of 20.89%. MetLife's quarterly revenue was up 15.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.83 EPS. On average, analysts expect that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 6th were paid a $0.5675 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 6th. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.87%. This is a positive change from MetLife's previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. MetLife's payout ratio is currently 36.91%.

MetLife declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, April 30th that allows the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to buy up to 5.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MET. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on MetLife from $91.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on MetLife from $92.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on MetLife from $94.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, May 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on MetLife from $98.00 to $95.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on MetLife from $88.00 to $86.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $94.17.

MetLife 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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