Acadian Asset Management LLC Acquires 308,811 Shares of MetLife, Inc. $MET

Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 211.2% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 455,022 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 308,811 shares during the quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC owned approximately 0.07% of MetLife worth $36,588,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MET. Kathmere Capital Management LLC grew its stake in MetLife by 88.2% during the 2nd quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 6,328 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $509,000 after buying an additional 2,965 shares during the last quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI acquired a new stake in MetLife in the first quarter worth about $12,060,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of MetLife by 13.4% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,050,921 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $84,378,000 after acquiring an additional 123,947 shares during the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP increased its holdings in shares of MetLife by 136.0% during the first quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 14,721 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,182,000 after acquiring an additional 8,482 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bell Bank purchased a new position in shares of MetLife in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $267,000. Institutional investors own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

MetLife Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of MET opened at $76.11 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $50.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.90, a PEG ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 0.87. MetLife, Inc. has a 52 week low of $65.21 and a 52 week high of $89.05. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $80.04 and its 200-day moving average price is $78.86. The company has a quick ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The financial services provider reported $2.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $12.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.64 billion. MetLife had a return on equity of 19.88% and a net margin of 5.83%.MetLife’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.95 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 EPS for the current year.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 9th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 4th will be given a dividend of $0.5675 per share. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 4th. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 42.75%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of MetLife from $96.00 to $92.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on MetLife from $100.00 to $103.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Wolfe Research raised MetLife to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 16th. Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of MetLife in a report on Friday, August 22nd. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on MetLife from $96.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $95.18.

MetLife 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.