Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co Buys New Holdings in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co acquired a new stake in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 9,143 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $749,000.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Transce3nd LLC bought a new stake in shares of MetLife during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of MetLife in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of MetLife in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Sierra Ocean LLC acquired a new position in shares of MetLife during the 4th quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Graney & King LLC bought a new stake in shares of MetLife during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Institutional investors own 94.99% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on MetLife from $92.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on MetLife in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. They set a "market perform" rating and a $97.00 price target for the company. StockNews.com raised MetLife from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on MetLife from $98.00 to $95.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $92.69.

MetLife Stock Performance

Shares of MetLife stock traded up $1.84 on Thursday, hitting $78.58. The stock had a trading volume of 1,611,864 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,736,159. The company's 50 day moving average price is $77.32 and its 200 day moving average price is $81.33. The stock has a market cap of $52.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.16, a P/E/G ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a current ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. MetLife, Inc. has a 52-week low of $65.21 and a 52-week high of $89.05.

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

MetLife announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, April 30th that authorizes the company to buyback $3.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to buy up to 5.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

MetLife Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 6th will be issued a $0.5675 dividend. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 6th. This is an increase from MetLife's previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. MetLife's dividend payout ratio is 36.91%.

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.