Sara Bay Financial Buys 405 Shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Sara Bay Financial grew its stake in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 5.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,008 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 405 shares during the quarter. Sara Bay Financial’s holdings in MetLife were worth $562,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MET. CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp bought a new stake in MetLife during the 1st quarter worth approximately $7,012,000. National Bank of Canada FI raised its position in shares of MetLife by 54.9% during the 1st quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 371,062 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,983,000 after purchasing an additional 131,538 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp lifted its stake in shares of MetLife by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 2,005,738 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $132,641,000 after buying an additional 35,782 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new position in MetLife in the 1st quarter worth $1,053,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in MetLife by 2,313.7% in the 1st quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 104,877 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,772,000 after buying an additional 100,532 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.81% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MET. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on MetLife from $85.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on MetLife from $86.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of MetLife from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of MetLife from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of MetLife from $83.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $83.00.

MetLife Price Performance

Shares of MetLife stock traded up $0.20 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $73.25. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,859,373 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,387,300. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $71.77 and a 200-day moving average price of $71.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.16 and a quick ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market cap of $52.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.17, a P/E/G ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 1.11. MetLife, Inc. has a one year low of $57.91 and a one year high of $79.34.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $2.28 earnings per share 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%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.94 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that MetLife, Inc. will post 8.62 EPS for the current year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 6th will be given a $0.545 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 6th. This represents a $2.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.98%. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio is presently 74.91%.

MetLife announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, May 1st that permits the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to buy up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.