Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC Boosts Stake in MetLife, Inc. $MET

Key Points

• Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC increased its stake in MetLife, Inc. by 9.5% during the first quarter, holding a total of 41,354 shares valued at $3,320,000.
• Several large institutional investors also boosted their holdings in MetLife, with notable investments from Diamond Hill Capital Management and Nuveen LLC, indicating strong institutional confidence in the company.
• MetLife recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.5675, reflecting a dividend yield of 2.8%, and has a stock repurchase plan authorized for up to $3 billion to reacquire shares, suggesting the management believes the stock is undervalued.

Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET - Free Report) by 9.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 41,354 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 3,592 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC's holdings in MetLife were worth $3,320,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of MET. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of MetLife during the first quarter worth about $336,965,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of MetLife during the first quarter worth about $312,946,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of MetLife by 7.4% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 26,488,146 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,126,734,000 after purchasing an additional 1,824,907 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of MetLife by 15.7% during the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of MetLife by 8,789.6% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 815,889 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $65,508,000 after purchasing an additional 806,711 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.99% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of MetLife from $94.00 to $92.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of MetLife from $86.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of MetLife from $88.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 7th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of MetLife from $100.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of MetLife from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $95.60.

MetLife Price Performance

MET opened at $80.86 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $53.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.73 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's 50-day moving average price is $77.96 and its 200 day moving average price is $78.43. The company has a quick ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57.

MetLife (NYSE:MET - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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). MetLife had a net margin of 5.83% and a return on equity of 19.88%. The firm had revenue of $17.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.58 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.28 EPS. MetLife's revenue for the quarter was down 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current year.

MetLife announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, April 30th that permits the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to reacquire up to 5.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically 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 paid a $0.5675 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 5th. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. MetLife's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.

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