Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Buys 96,523 Shares of MetLife, Inc. $MET

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its position in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 8.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,176,469 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 96,523 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans owned approximately 0.18% of MetLife worth $96,905,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in MET. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of MetLife during the second quarter worth about $756,104,000. Pzena Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of MetLife by 6.8% in the 2nd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 9,144,635 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $735,412,000 after buying an additional 585,671 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of MetLife by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,624,582 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $532,749,000 after buying an additional 162,041 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in MetLife by 2.0% in the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,512,620 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $367,643,000 after acquiring an additional 86,519 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi raised its position in MetLife by 40.2% during the second quarter. Amundi now owns 4,507,362 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $361,265,000 after purchasing an additional 1,292,107 shares in the last quarter. 94.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MetLife Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of MetLife stock opened at $78.84 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 0.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. MetLife, Inc. has a 12-month low of $65.21 and a 12-month high of $87.50. The company has a market cap of $51.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.85, a PEG ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 0.76. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $78.77 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $78.81.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The financial services provider reported $2.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.07. MetLife had a net margin of 5.30% and a return on equity of 21.00%. The firm had revenue of $12.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.64 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.95 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate 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, March 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 3rd will be paid a $0.5675 dividend. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 3rd. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.75%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MET has been the topic of several recent research reports. UBS Group reduced their price objective on MetLife from $95.00 to $94.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Evercore ISI set a $97.00 price objective on shares of MetLife and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on shares of MetLife from $92.00 to $90.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. Morgan Stanley set a $101.00 price target on shares of MetLife and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Finally, Barclays set a $90.00 price objective on MetLife in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $95.27.

MetLife Company Profile

MetLife, Inc is a global provider of insurance, annuities and employee benefit programs. Headquartered in New York City, the company offers a range of risk protection and retirement solutions to individuals, employers and institutional clients. Its core businesses include life insurance, group benefits, retirement products such as annuities, and supplemental health products including dental and disability coverage.

In addition to traditional life and group insurance, MetLife provides workplace benefits and voluntary products distributed through employer-sponsored programs.