Principal Financial Group Inc. Purchases 18,341 Shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET - Free Report) by 2.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 677,596 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 18,341 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.10% of MetLife worth $54,404,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of MetLife by 4.8% during the first quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 422,684 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $33,937,000 after purchasing an additional 19,192 shares during the period. Novem Group lifted its holdings in shares of MetLife by 15.9% during the first quarter. Novem Group now owns 6,234 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $500,000 after buying an additional 855 shares in the last quarter. Private Trust Co. NA lifted its holdings in shares of MetLife by 4.6% during the first quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 7,513 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $603,000 after buying an additional 333 shares in the last quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc bought a new position in MetLife during the first quarter worth about $255,000. Finally, Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in MetLife by 8.2% in the 1st quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,927 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $235,000 after purchasing an additional 223 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.99% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on MET shares. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of MetLife from $92.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of MetLife from $88.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday. Wall Street Zen lowered MetLife from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of MetLife from $88.00 to $86.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on MetLife from $91.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $94.67.

MetLife Stock Down 1.8%

MetLife stock traded down $1.45 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $79.20. The stock had a trading volume of 2,495,461 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,367,654. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $78.74 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $80.11. MetLife, Inc. has a 12 month low of $65.21 and a 12 month high of $89.05. The company has a current ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The company has a market capitalization of $53.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.88, a PEG ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 0.85.

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

MetLife Increases Dividend

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

MetLife announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, April 30th that authorizes the company to buyback $3.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to purchase up to 5.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.