6,256 Shares in MetLife, Inc. $MET Bought by Heartland Bank & Trust Co

Heartland Bank & Trust Co bought a new stake in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 6,256 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $529,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MET. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of MetLife in the second quarter valued at about $4,381,692,000. Pzena Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in MetLife in the second quarter valued at about $941,792,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in MetLife in the fourth quarter valued at about $639,986,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of MetLife by 12.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 72,555,335 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,727,518,000 after acquiring an additional 7,805,814 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in shares of MetLife during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $293,287,000. 94.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on MET shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on MetLife from $106.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Barclays boosted their target price on MetLife from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Weiss Ratings raised MetLife from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Monday, June 15th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on MetLife from $97.00 to $103.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price target on MetLife from $95.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. One equities research 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. According to MarketBeat.com, MetLife currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $101.64.

MetLife Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of MET opened at $94.44 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.20 and a quick ratio of 0.20. MetLife, Inc. has a 1-year low of $67.33 and a 1-year high of $100.93. The stock has a market cap of $60.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 0.78. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $92.41 and a 200-day simple moving average of $82.17.

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

MetLife Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 8th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.5925 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 4th. This represents a $2.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.40%.

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

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.