Pitcairn Co. Buys 304 Shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Pitcairn Co. raised its stake in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 5.6% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 5,751 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 304 shares during the period. Pitcairn Co.’s holdings in MetLife were worth $426,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. CNB Bank raised its holdings in shares of MetLife by 9.3% in the first quarter. CNB Bank now owns 1,735 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $129,000 after purchasing an additional 147 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC raised its holdings in shares of MetLife by 2.9% in the first quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC now owns 5,323 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $394,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of MetLife by 4.7% in the first quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC now owns 3,436 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $255,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of MetLife by 12.5% in the first quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 1,470 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $109,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GoalVest Advisory LLC raised its holdings in shares of MetLife by 73.3% in the first quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 390 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares during 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 issued reports on MET. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of MetLife from $82.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. 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. 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. 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, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on shares of MetLife from $86.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.08.

MetLife Stock Performance

Shares of MetLife stock traded up $0.80 during trading on Thursday, reaching $75.32. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,515,420 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,335,220. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $71.61 and its 200-day moving average price is $70.92. The firm has a market cap of $53.56 billion, a PE ratio of 26.13, a P/E/G ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 1.11. MetLife, Inc. has a 52 week low of $57.91 and a 52 week high of $76.90. The company has a quick ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The financial services provider reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates 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 net margin of 3.50% and a return on equity of 20.39%. MetLife’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.52 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that MetLife, Inc. will post 8.59 earnings per share for the current year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 2.89%. MetLife’s payout ratio is presently 74.91%.

MetLife announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, May 1st that allows the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to reacquire up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board 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.