Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV Boosts Stock Holdings in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its position in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET - Free Report) by 23.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 86,719 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 16,731 shares during the quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV's holdings in MetLife were worth $7,101,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MET. World Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in MetLife during the 3rd quarter worth $336,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in MetLife in the 3rd quarter valued at about $701,000. Tidal Investments LLC raised its stake in MetLife by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 19,282 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,590,000 after acquiring an additional 718 shares during the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp lifted its position in MetLife by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 22,720 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,874,000 after acquiring an additional 1,183 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in MetLife by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 670,565 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $55,308,000 after acquiring an additional 18,788 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.99% of the company's stock.

MetLife Price Performance

Shares of MET traded up $0.45 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $78.04. 936,067 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,391,066. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $77.16 and a 200 day simple moving average of $81.28. MetLife, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $65.21 and a fifty-two week high of $89.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $52.47 billion, a PE ratio of 13.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a quick ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54.

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 the consensus estimate of $2.00 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $18.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.06 billion. MetLife had a return on equity of 20.42% and a net margin of 6.19%. MetLife's revenue for the quarter was up 15.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.83 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 6th will be given a $0.5675 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 6th. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.91%. This is an increase from MetLife's previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. MetLife's payout ratio is currently 36.91%.

MetLife announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase 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 purchase up to 5.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on MET. Piper Sandler upped their price target on MetLife from $92.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of MetLife from $109.00 to $94.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of MetLife from $88.00 to $86.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on MetLife from $91.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Cowen reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of MetLife in a research report on Friday, March 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, MetLife currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $92.69.

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.