IFG Advisory LLC Makes New $206,000 Investment in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

IFG Advisory LLC bought a new position in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 2,935 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $206,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in MetLife by 3.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,622,348 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,418,612,000 after purchasing an additional 1,974,268 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of MetLife in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $558,460,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of MetLife by 20.9% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,053,851 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $268,090,000 after buying an additional 700,788 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in MetLife by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,878,238 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $256,468,000 after acquiring an additional 104,116 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in MetLife by 4.1% in the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,772,751 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $205,544,000 after acquiring an additional 108,739 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.81% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on MET shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of MetLife from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on shares of MetLife from $86.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 8th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of MetLife from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on MetLife from $85.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on MetLife from $86.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $83.00.

MetLife Stock Up 1.0 %

MET opened at $77.48 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $54.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.63, a PEG ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 1.05. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $72.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $71.88. MetLife, Inc. has a 52 week low of $57.91 and a 52 week high of $79.34. The company has a quick ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56.

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

MetLife Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 6th will be paid 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 payout ratio is currently 74.91%.

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.