Allen Mooney & Barnes Investment Advisors LLC Reduces Holdings in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Allen Mooney & Barnes Investment Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 0.2% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 148,249 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 247 shares during the period. MetLife accounts for approximately 2.0% of Allen Mooney & Barnes Investment Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest holding. Allen Mooney & Barnes Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in MetLife were worth $10,523,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MET. FMR LLC increased its holdings in MetLife by 54.1% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,126,683 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $133,790,000 after acquiring an additional 746,643 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of MetLife by 50.0% during the third quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 8,856 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $557,000 after buying an additional 2,952 shares in the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC grew its holdings in shares of MetLife by 13.5% during the third quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 707,885 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $44,533,000 after buying an additional 84,061 shares in the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC grew its holdings in shares of MetLife by 35.4% during the third quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 4,583 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $288,000 after buying an additional 1,198 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of MetLife by 1.6% during the third quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 19,892 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,251,000 after buying an additional 310 shares in the last quarter. 89.81% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on MET shares. Argus lifted their price target on shares of MetLife from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of MetLife from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on shares of MetLife from $87.00 to $86.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 7th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of MetLife from $86.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of MetLife from $85.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MetLife has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $79.08.

MetLife Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of MET stock opened at $72.12 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $51.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a quick ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. MetLife, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $53.04 and a fifty-two week high of $74.68. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $71.21 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $69.99.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The financial services provider reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83. The firm had revenue of $17.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.73 billion. MetLife had a net margin of 3.50% and a return on equity of 20.39%. MetLife’s revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.52 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that MetLife, Inc. will post 8.62 EPS for the current year.

MetLife Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 7th were given a dividend of $0.545 per share. This represents a $2.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.02%. This is a boost from MetLife’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 6th. MetLife’s payout ratio is 74.91%.

MetLife declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, May 1st that allows the company to buyback $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to purchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.