Verdence Capital Advisors LLC Has $2.38 Million Stock Position in MetLife, Inc. $MET

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 18.8% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 29,617 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,695 shares during the period. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in MetLife were worth $2,382,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in MET. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of MetLife in the 1st quarter valued at $336,965,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of MetLife in the 1st quarter valued at $312,946,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of MetLife by 7.4% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 26,488,146 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,126,734,000 after buying an additional 1,824,907 shares in the last quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. bought a new stake in shares of MetLife in the 1st quarter valued at $68,030,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of MetLife by 85.0% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,321,881 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $104,270,000 after buying an additional 607,333 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

MetLife Price Performance

MET stock opened at $79.88 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $79.68 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $78.08. The stock has a market cap of $53.12 billion, a PE ratio of 13.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a current ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. MetLife, Inc. has a 1 year low of $65.21 and a 1 year high of $89.05.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.32 by ($0.30). MetLife had a return on equity of 19.88% and a net margin of 5.83%.The business had revenue of $17.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.58 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.28 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 9th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.5675 per share. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 4th. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio is currently 38.47%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on MET. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of MetLife from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of MetLife from $94.00 to $92.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of MetLife from $86.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on MetLife from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut MetLife from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $84.00 target price for the company. in a report on Friday, September 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $95.18.

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.