Quarry LP Raises Stock Holdings in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Quarry LP increased its stake in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 155.3% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,088 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,270 shares during the period. Quarry LP’s holdings in MetLife were worth $147,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. GoalVest Advisory LLC lifted its stake in shares of MetLife by 73.3% during the 1st quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 390 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in MetLife in the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. Bank & Trust Co purchased a new stake in MetLife in the second quarter valued at about $39,000. Crewe Advisors LLC raised its stake in MetLife by 602.5% in the second quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 562 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 482 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC raised its stake in MetLife by 72.6% in the second quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 568 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 239 shares during the last quarter. 89.81% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Citigroup increased their price target on MetLife from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on MetLife from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on MetLife from $86.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 19th. Barclays started coverage on MetLife in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $91.00 price objective for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on MetLife from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MetLife presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $85.23.

MetLife Price Performance

Shares of MET stock opened at $82.48 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $75.41 and a 200 day moving average of $73.06. The company has a current ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The stock has a market cap of $58.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.34, a P/E/G ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.04. MetLife, Inc. has a twelve month low of $57.91 and a twelve month high of $82.99.

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

MetLife Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 6th were given a $0.545 dividend. This represents a $2.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 6th. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.