Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. Invests $27.71 Million in MetLife, Inc. $MET

Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. bought a new position in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 327,514 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $27,711,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Csenge Advisory Group acquired a new position in MetLife in the second quarter valued at about $809,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of MetLife during the second quarter worth approximately $47,000. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of MetLife in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,905,000. West Family Investments Inc. bought a new position in shares of MetLife in the second quarter valued at approximately $407,000. Finally, Tacita Capital Inc acquired a new position in shares of MetLife in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $63,000. 94.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on MET shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on MetLife from $106.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on MetLife from $95.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Atlantic Securities set a $103.00 target price on MetLife in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. UBS Group raised their target price on MetLife from $102.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised MetLife from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Monday, June 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MetLife has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $101.64.

MetLife Stock Performance

Shares of MetLife stock opened at $95.12 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.20 and a quick ratio of 0.20. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $92.17 and a 200 day simple moving average of $81.98. MetLife, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $67.33 and a fifty-two week high of $100.93. The firm has a market cap of $61.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.22, a P/E/G ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 0.78.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The financial services provider reported $2.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $13.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.67 billion. MetLife had a return on equity of 23.39% and a net margin of 4.57%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.02 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 8th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.5925 per share. This represents a $2.37 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 4th. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio is 45.40%.

MetLife announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, August 5th that permits the company to buyback $3.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to repurchase up to 4.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

About MetLife

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.