Royal Bank of Canada Increases Stock Holdings in MetLife, Inc. $MET

Key Points

• The Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in MetLife, Inc. by 1.2%, owning 4.27 million shares valued at approximately $343.2 million.
• Despite the increased investment, MetLife's stock has faced mixed analyst ratings, with a recent downgrade from a "buy" to a "hold" and varying price targets from different firms.
• MetLife reported lower-than-expected earnings per share of $2.02 for the last quarter, missing estimates by $0.30, and experienced a revenue decline of 2.7% year-over-year.

Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET - Free Report) by 1.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,274,533 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 51,375 shares during the quarter. Royal Bank of Canada owned approximately 0.64% of MetLife worth $343,202,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MET. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its position in MetLife by 4.8% during the 1st quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 422,684 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $33,937,000 after purchasing an additional 19,192 shares during the period. Ritholtz Wealth Management increased its position in MetLife by 52.1% during the 1st quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 9,355 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $751,000 after purchasing an additional 3,204 shares during the period. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc purchased a new position in MetLife during the 1st quarter valued at $255,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its position in MetLife by 20.7% during the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 60,785 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $4,735,000 after purchasing an additional 10,414 shares during the period. Finally, Heartland Bank & Trust Co purchased a new position in MetLife during the 1st quarter valued at $516,000. 94.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

MetLife Stock Up 1.5%

MET stock traded up $1.17 during trading on Thursday, hitting $81.74. 2,434,537 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,368,521. MetLife, Inc. has a 1 year low of $65.21 and a 1 year high of $89.05. The firm's 50 day moving average is $78.25 and its two-hundred day moving average is $78.41. The stock has a market cap of $54.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 0.87. 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 (NYSE:MET - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $18.58 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.28 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 EPS for the current year.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MET has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of MetLife from $98.00 to $94.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 18th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of MetLife from $94.00 to $91.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of MetLife from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 24th. Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of MetLife in a research report on Friday, August 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price 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. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $95.60.

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.