Oak Thistle LLC Purchases Shares of 70,851 MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Oak Thistle LLC acquired a new position in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 70,851 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $5,689,000. MetLife accounts for approximately 1.1% of Oak Thistle LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest position.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Eagle Strategies LLC raised its stake in shares of MetLife by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Eagle Strategies LLC now owns 2,707 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $222,000 after purchasing an additional 123 shares in the last quarter. Csenge Advisory Group increased its stake in MetLife by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 13,647 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,096,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. increased its stake in MetLife by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 11,295 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $925,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. increased its stake in MetLife by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. now owns 6,463 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $519,000 after purchasing an additional 159 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Unigestion Holding SA increased its stake in MetLife by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Unigestion Holding SA now owns 23,661 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,900,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.99% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MET has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on MetLife from $95.00 to $94.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Barclays lifted their target price on MetLife from $88.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 7th. Wall Street Zen cut MetLife from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on MetLife from $99.00 to $98.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on MetLife from $86.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $96.09.

MetLife Stock Performance

MET traded up $0.74 on Friday, hitting $78.53. The company had a trading volume of 2,177,104 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,357,241. MetLife, Inc. has a 1-year low of $65.21 and a 1-year high of $89.05. The stock has a market cap of $52.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.85. The company's fifty day moving average price is $78.72 and its 200 day moving average price is $79.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.16 and a quick ratio of 0.16.

MetLife (NYSE:MET - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.96 EPS 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 business had revenue of $18.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.06 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.83 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 15.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 5th. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.89%. MetLife's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.91%.

MetLife announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, April 30th that permits the company to buyback $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to purchase up to 5.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company's management 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.