MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) Shares Purchased by Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. raised its position in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 95.0% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,147 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,918 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in MetLife were worth $853,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of MetLife by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,622,348 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,418,612,000 after acquiring an additional 1,974,268 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of MetLife by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,224,930 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $226,358,000 after acquiring an additional 100,782 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in shares of MetLife by 4.1% in the 1st 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 during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of MetLife by 29.7% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 2,120,275 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $157,133,000 after acquiring an additional 485,811 shares during the period. Finally, AustralianSuper Pty Ltd lifted its stake in shares of MetLife by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 2,063,607 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $144,845,000 after acquiring an additional 16,985 shares during the period. 89.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MetLife Stock Up 1.2 %

MetLife stock opened at $78.29 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $55.67 billion, a PE ratio of 26.90, a P/E/G ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a current ratio of 0.16. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $74.19 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $72.43. MetLife, Inc. has a twelve month low of $57.91 and a twelve month high of $79.34.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $2.28 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.13 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $17.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.57 billion. MetLife had a net margin of 4.23% and a return on equity of 21.41%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.94 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that MetLife, Inc. will post 8.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 6th were issued a dividend of $0.545 per share. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.78%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 6th. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio is currently 74.91%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on MET. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of MetLife from $99.00 to $96.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Argus boosted their target price on shares of MetLife from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of MetLife from $83.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of MetLife from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of MetLife from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $84.54.

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.