TABR Capital Management LLC Acquires Shares of 74,926 MetLife, Inc. $MET

Key Points

• TABR Capital Management bought 74,926 shares of MetLife in Q4 (~$5.92 million), making MET roughly 1.5% of its portfolio and its 18th-largest holding.
• Institutional investors own about 94.99% of MetLife, and large holders such as Vanguard, Dodge & Cox, Wellington and others increased their stakes in recent quarters.
• Analysts give MET a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating with an average target of $93.38; the stock trades at a ~$50.6B market cap, P/E ~16.5, and recently beat Q earnings (EPS $2.49 vs. $2.34) with revenue up 27.6% year-over-year.

TABR Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 74,926 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $5,915,000. MetLife comprises approximately 1.5% of TABR Capital Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest holding.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in MetLife by 13.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,749,521 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $5,333,418,000 after buying an additional 7,578,199 shares during the period. Dodge & Cox increased its stake in shares of MetLife by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 53,659,664 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $4,419,947,000 after acquiring an additional 477,783 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of MetLife by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,572,807 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,035,622,000 after acquiring an additional 180,683 shares during the period. Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in MetLife by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 9,672,023 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $796,685,000 after acquiring an additional 527,388 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in MetLife by 4.8% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,746,341 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $640,357,000 after purchasing an additional 352,395 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.99% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MET has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a "moderate buy" rating and set a $87.00 price target on shares of MetLife in a research report on Thursday, March 26th. Mizuho dropped their price objective on MetLife from $100.00 to $93.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Wall Street Zen upgraded MetLife from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on MetLife from $93.00 to $90.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 10th. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their price target on MetLife from $91.00 to $88.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, MetLife currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $93.38.

MetLife Trading Down 0.2%

MET opened at $77.52 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $50.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.49, a P/E/G ratio of 0.69 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a current ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 0.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. MetLife, Inc. has a 12 month low of $67.33 and a 12 month high of $83.85. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $73.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $76.71.

MetLife (NYSE:MET - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.34 by $0.15. MetLife had a return on equity of 21.81% and a net margin of 4.38%.The firm had revenue of $52.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $31.43 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.08 EPS. The company's revenue was up 27.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Company Profile

MetLife, Inc is a global provider of insurance, annuities and employee benefit programs. Headquartered in New York City, the company offers a range of risk protection and retirement solutions to individuals, employers and institutional clients. Its core businesses include life insurance, group benefits, retirement products such as annuities, and supplemental health products including dental and disability coverage.

In addition to traditional life and group insurance, MetLife provides workplace benefits and voluntary products distributed through employer-sponsored programs.

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