MetLife, Inc. $MET Shares Purchased by American Century Companies Inc.

Key Points

• American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in MetLife, Inc. by 21.8%, purchasing an additional 230,269 shares in the first quarter, now owning approximately 0.19% of the company valued at $103.45 million.
• MetLife recently reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' expectations by $0.30, with a total revenue of $17.34 billion, falling short of the projected $18.58 billion.
• The company's Board of Directors approved a $3.00 billion share repurchase plan, indicating a belief that the stock is currently undervalued.

American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET - Free Report) by 21.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,288,497 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 230,269 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned approximately 0.19% of MetLife worth $103,453,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in MetLife by 33.7% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of MetLife in the first quarter worth about $336,965,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MetLife during the 1st quarter worth about $312,946,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its position 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 valued at $577,434,000 after acquiring an additional 958,458 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of MetLife by 8,789.6% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 815,889 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $65,508,000 after purchasing an additional 806,711 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.99% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MET. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on MetLife from $98.00 to $94.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on MetLife from $100.00 to $103.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of MetLife from $88.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 7th. UBS Group reduced their price objective 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. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of MetLife from $94.00 to $92.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 11th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MetLife presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $95.60.

MetLife Price Performance

MET traded up $0.2560 on Wednesday, hitting $78.9760. 2,666,672 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,410,005. MetLife, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $65.21 and a fifty-two week high of $89.05. The stock has a market cap of $52.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.39, a P/E/G ratio of 0.69 and a beta of 0.85. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $77.82 and a 200-day moving average price of $78.60. The company has a current ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57.

MetLife (NYSE:MET - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.32 by ($0.30). The business had revenue of $17.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $18.58 billion. MetLife had a return on equity of 19.88% and a net margin of 5.83%.The business's quarterly revenue was down 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.28 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current year.

MetLife announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, April 30th that authorizes the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to reacquire up to 5.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 9th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.5675 per share. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 5th. MetLife's payout ratio is currently 38.47%.

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.