Hills Bank & Trust Co Increases Position in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Hills Bank & Trust Co boosted its stake in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 8.3% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,855 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 142 shares during the quarter. Hills Bank & Trust Co’s holdings in MetLife were worth $130,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of MetLife during the 4th quarter worth approximately $558,460,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in MetLife by 3.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,622,348 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,418,612,000 after purchasing an additional 1,974,268 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in MetLife in the 1st quarter worth about $131,456,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of MetLife by 20.9% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,053,851 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $268,090,000 after acquiring an additional 700,788 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of MetLife by 29.7% during 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. 89.81% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently issued reports on MET shares. Argus boosted their price objective on shares of MetLife from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. Bank of America cut their target price on shares of MetLife from $99.00 to $96.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of MetLife from $85.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of MetLife from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on MetLife from $83.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. 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, MetLife presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $83.00.

MetLife Stock Up 0.6 %

NYSE MET traded up $0.42 on Monday, hitting $74.76. 307,229 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,346,309. The company has a market capitalization of $53.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 1.05. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $72.20 and a 200 day moving average of $71.54. The company has a current ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. MetLife, Inc. has a twelve month low of $57.91 and a twelve month high of $79.34.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 firm 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 last year, the business posted $1.94 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that MetLife, Inc. will post 8.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MetLife announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, May 1st that authorizes the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to reacquire up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The business 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 $0.545 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 6th. This represents a $2.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.92%. MetLife’s payout ratio is currently 74.91%.

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.