American Century Companies Inc. Buys 146,940 Shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 16.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,028,848 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 146,940 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. owned 0.14% of MetLife worth $72,215,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. AdvisorShares Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of MetLife during the 2nd quarter valued at $457,000. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. grew its position in MetLife by 2.8% during the second quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 18,140 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,273,000 after buying an additional 487 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its stake in MetLife by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 88,139 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,187,000 after acquiring an additional 2,515 shares during the last quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of MetLife by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 240,419 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $16,875,000 after acquiring an additional 4,846 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Choreo LLC boosted its position in shares of MetLife by 321.3% during the 2nd quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 58,222 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,069,000 after acquiring an additional 44,402 shares during the last quarter. 89.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

MetLife Price Performance

Shares of MetLife stock opened at $76.19 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $73.86 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $72.30. MetLife, Inc. has a 12-month low of $57.91 and a 12-month high of $79.34. The firm has a market cap of $54.18 billion, a PE ratio of 26.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 1.04. 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 posted its 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 return on equity of 21.41% and a net margin of 4.23%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.94 earnings per share. MetLife’s quarterly revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that MetLife, Inc. will post 8.67 EPS for the current year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 6th were paid a $0.545 dividend. This represents a $2.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 6th. MetLife’s payout ratio is 74.91%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on MET. StockNews.com downgraded shares of MetLife from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on shares of MetLife from $86.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on MetLife from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Bank of America cut their price objective on MetLife from $99.00 to $96.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Argus raised their price objective on MetLife from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, MetLife currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $84.54.

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.