Arizona State Retirement System Has $12.57 Million Position in MetLife, Inc. $MET

Arizona State Retirement System lowered its holdings in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 4.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 159,216 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 7,441 shares during the quarter. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in MetLife were worth $12,569,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of MetLife by 13.3% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,749,521 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,333,418,000 after purchasing an additional 7,578,199 shares during the period. Dodge & Cox raised its position in shares of MetLife by 0.9% during the third quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 53,659,664 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,419,947,000 after purchasing an additional 477,783 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of MetLife by 1.5% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,572,807 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,035,622,000 after purchasing an additional 180,683 shares during the period. Pzena Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of MetLife by 5.8% during the third quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 9,672,023 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $796,685,000 after purchasing an additional 527,388 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in shares of MetLife by 4.8% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,746,341 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $640,357,000 after purchasing an additional 352,395 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

MetLife Stock Up 2.1%

NYSE:MET opened at $77.66 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $73.10 and a 200 day simple moving average of $76.64. MetLife, Inc. has a 52-week low of $67.33 and a 52-week high of $83.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.20 and a current ratio of 0.20. The company has a market cap of $50.64 billion, a PE ratio of 16.52, a PEG ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 0.74.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.49 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.34 by $0.15. MetLife had a return on equity of 21.81% and a net margin of 4.38%.The firm had revenue of $52.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $31.43 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.08 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 27.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on MET shares. Wall Street Zen raised MetLife from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 11th. Mizuho dropped their price target on MetLife from $100.00 to $93.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “moderate buy” rating and set a $87.00 price objective on shares of MetLife in a research report on Thursday, March 26th. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on MetLife from $91.00 to $88.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on MetLife from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $93.38.

MetLife 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.