Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Raises Stock Holdings in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its holdings in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 53.0% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 618,650 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 214,367 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board’s holdings in MetLife were worth $45,848,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position 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 purchased a new position in MetLife during the fourth quarter worth approximately $558,460,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in MetLife by 20.9% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,053,851 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $268,090,000 after purchasing an additional 700,788 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 104,116 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in MetLife by 4.1% during 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 purchasing an additional 108,739 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.81% of the company’s stock.

MetLife Price Performance

NYSE:MET opened at $76.00 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $71.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $71.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a current ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market cap of $54.05 billion, a PE ratio of 26.12, a P/E/G ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.11. MetLife, Inc. has a one year low of $57.91 and a one year high of $76.90.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The financial services provider reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.83. The company had revenue of $17.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.73 billion. MetLife had a return on equity of 20.39% and a net margin of 3.50%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.52 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that MetLife, Inc. will post 8.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 dividend of $0.545 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 6th. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.87%. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 74.91%.

MetLife announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, May 1st that allows the company to buyback $3.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to buy up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MET has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup increased their target price on MetLife from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Argus increased their target price on MetLife from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on MetLife from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on MetLife from $82.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on MetLife from $86.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MetLife presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.08.

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.