Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Has $2.13 Billion Stock Position in MetLife, Inc. $MET

Key Points

• Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in MetLife, Inc. by 7.4%, owning approximately 3.95% of the company worth $2.13 billion after purchasing 1,824,907 shares in the first quarter.
• MetLife's quarterly earnings report revealed an EPS of $2.02, which fell short of analysts' expectations of $2.32, and a revenue of $17.34 billion, down 2.7% year-over-year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.5675 per share with a yield of 2.9%, and has a share buyback plan authorized for up to $3 billion, indicating confidence in the stock's valuation.

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET - Free Report) by 7.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 26,488,146 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 1,824,907 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned 3.95% of MetLife worth $2,126,734,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in MetLife in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Transce3nd LLC acquired a new position in MetLife in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. North Capital Inc. acquired a new position in MetLife in the first quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Quarry LP acquired a new position in MetLife in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Motco increased its holdings in shares of MetLife by 105.5% in the 1st quarter. Motco now owns 413 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 212 shares during the period. 94.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MET has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped 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. Wall Street Zen cut shares of MetLife from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, May 24th. 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 report on Monday, August 11th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of MetLife from $94.00 to $91.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of MetLife from $98.00 to $94.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 18th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MetLife has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $95.60.

MetLife Price Performance

Shares of MET traded up $2.1760 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $81.4160. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,502,666 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,596,835. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $77.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $78.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $54.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.80, a PEG ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.16 and a quick ratio of 0.16. MetLife, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $65.21 and a fifty-two week high of $89.05.

MetLife (NYSE:MET - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 earnings per share (EPS) 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 analyst estimates of $18.58 billion. MetLife had a return on equity of 19.88% and a net margin of 5.83%.The business's revenue for the quarter was down 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.28 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MetLife declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, April 30th that permits the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to purchase up to 5.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 9th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 5th will be paid a $0.5675 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 5th. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. MetLife's payout ratio is currently 38.47%.

MetLife Company 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.