Smithbridge Asset Management Inc. DE Invests $676,000 in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Smithbridge Asset Management Inc. DE purchased a new position in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 8,419 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $676,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of MetLife by 33.7% in the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of MetLife by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,931,536 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $973,901,000 after buying an additional 158,107 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of MetLife in the 4th quarter worth about $730,716,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of MetLife by 109.2% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,826,658 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $722,727,000 after buying an additional 4,606,748 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of MetLife by 15.7% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,052,202 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $577,434,000 after buying an additional 958,458 shares during the last quarter. 94.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on MET shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of MetLife from $98.00 to $95.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of MetLife from $91.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Cowen reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of MetLife in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of MetLife from $94.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of MetLife from $88.00 to $86.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $94.17.

MetLife Price Performance

MetLife stock traded down $1.77 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $77.22. 3,450,695 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,386,122. The firm has a market cap of $51.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.93, a P/E/G ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a quick ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $76.56 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $80.70. MetLife, Inc. has a 1-year low of $65.21 and a 1-year high of $89.05.

MetLife (NYSE:MET - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.96 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.00 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $18.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.06 billion. MetLife had a net margin of 6.19% and a return on equity of 20.42%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 15.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.83 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 6th were paid a dividend of $0.5675 per share. This is a boost from MetLife's previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 6th. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.94%. MetLife's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.91%.

MetLife declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, April 30th that allows the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to buy up to 5.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.