Verity & Verity LLC Purchases 2,593 Shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Verity & Verity LLC lifted its position in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 1.2% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 211,732 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,593 shares during the quarter. MetLife accounts for about 1.7% of Verity & Verity LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 23rd largest holding. Verity & Verity LLC’s holdings in MetLife were worth $14,861,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MET. Heritage Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in MetLife during the 2nd quarter valued at about $241,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new stake in MetLife during the 2nd quarter valued at $6,377,000. Brown Financial Advisors purchased a new stake in MetLife during the 2nd quarter valued at $707,000. Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in MetLife in the 2nd quarter worth $585,000. Finally, Truist Financial Corp raised its stake in shares of MetLife by 13.2% during the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 1,938,609 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $136,071,000 after acquiring an additional 226,784 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.81% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Bank of America lowered their price target on MetLife from $99.00 to $96.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of MetLife from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on MetLife from $86.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on MetLife from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $85.23.

MetLife Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE MET opened at $81.81 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $58.18 billion, a PE ratio of 28.11, a P/E/G ratio of 0.66 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 $75.54 and its 200-day moving average price is $73.12. MetLife, Inc. has a 52-week low of $57.91 and a 52-week high of $82.99.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $2.28 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $18.57 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.94 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that MetLife, Inc. will post 8.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 6th were paid a dividend of $0.545 per share. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 6th. MetLife’s dividend 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.