Consolidated Portfolio Review Corp Acquires New Shares in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Consolidated Portfolio Review Corp bought a new position in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 4,127 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $290,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MET. Gilbert & Cook Inc. increased its position in shares of MetLife by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 13,872 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $917,000 after buying an additional 605 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in MetLife by 16.8% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 456,873 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $30,213,000 after purchasing an additional 65,763 shares in the last quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. raised its holdings in MetLife by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. now owns 8,898 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $588,000 after buying an additional 167 shares during the period. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. lifted its stake in MetLife by 36.4% in the fourth quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 11,114 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $735,000 after buying an additional 2,966 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Spire Wealth Management boosted its holdings in shares of MetLife by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 7,288 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $502,000 after buying an additional 321 shares during the period. 89.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on MET. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of MetLife from $83.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on MetLife from $86.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 8th. Argus increased their price objective on MetLife from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on MetLife from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of MetLife from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $83.00.

MetLife Stock Performance

Shares of MET opened at $77.48 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $72.77 and a 200-day moving average of $71.83. The company has a market cap of $54.26 billion, a PE ratio of 26.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.16 and a quick ratio of 0.16. MetLife, Inc. has a one year low of $57.91 and a one year high of $79.34.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $2.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.13 by $0.15. MetLife had a return on equity of 21.41% and a net margin of 4.23%. The business had revenue of $17.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.57 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.94 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that MetLife, Inc. will post 8.68 earnings per share for the current year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 6th will be issued a $0.545 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 6th. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.81%. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio is currently 74.91%.

About MetLife

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.