MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) Shares Acquired by Cwm LLC

Cwm LLC lifted its position in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 28.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 12,491 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,733 shares during the period. Cwm LLC’s holdings in MetLife were worth $826,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of MetLife by 118.1% during the 3rd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 10,108,992 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $635,957,000 after buying an additional 5,474,449 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in MetLife by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,440,583 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $468,087,000 after purchasing an additional 276,364 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in MetLife by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,829,965 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $366,763,000 after purchasing an additional 17,375 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in MetLife by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,774,122 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $237,430,000 after purchasing an additional 22,031 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in MetLife by 15.3% in the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,724,805 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $234,327,000 after purchasing an additional 495,027 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.81% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on MET shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on MetLife from $82.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. UBS Group reduced their price target on MetLife from $87.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 5th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on MetLife from $74.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded MetLife from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $70.00 to $80.00 in a report on Monday, January 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on MetLife from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $79.23.

Insider Buying and Selling at MetLife

In other MetLife news, EVP Bill Pappas sold 27,000 shares of MetLife stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.27, for a total value of $1,951,290.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 57,768 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,174,893.36. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Bill Pappas sold 27,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.27, for a total transaction of $1,951,290.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 57,768 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,174,893.36. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Ramy Tadros sold 4,026 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.90, for a total value of $289,469.40. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 146,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,567,933.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.32% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

MetLife Stock Performance

NYSE MET opened at $71.70 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $51.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.18, a P/E/G ratio of 0.53 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.16 and a quick ratio of 0.16. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $71.50 and a two-hundred day moving average of $67.28. MetLife, Inc. has a 1-year low of $48.95 and a 1-year high of $74.68.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The financial services provider reported $1.93 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.95 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $18.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.07 billion. MetLife had a net margin of 2.36% and a return on equity of 19.48%. As a group, analysts anticipate that MetLife, Inc. will post 8.71 EPS for the current year.

MetLife Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 7th will be given a $0.545 dividend. This is an increase from MetLife’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 6th. MetLife’s payout ratio is currently 113.66%.

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.