Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC Acquires 366,575 Shares of MetLife, Inc. $MET

Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC increased its stake in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 55.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,025,733 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 366,575 shares during the quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC owned 0.15% of MetLife worth $82,489,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Quaker Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in MetLife by 198.2% in the second quarter. Quaker Wealth Management LLC now owns 333 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 672 shares in the last quarter. Motco grew its stake in shares of MetLife by 105.5% in the 1st quarter. Motco now owns 413 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 212 shares during the period. MTM Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in MetLife in the 2nd quarter valued at about $37,000. GFG Capital LLC acquired a new position in MetLife during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $38,000. Finally, Abound Wealth Management boosted its holdings in MetLife by 652.3% in the second quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 489 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 424 shares in the last quarter. 94.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

MetLife Price Performance

MET opened at $73.93 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $79.45 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $78.88. The company has a market capitalization of $48.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.53, a P/E/G ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.16 and a quick ratio of 0.16. MetLife, Inc. has a 1 year low of $65.21 and a 1 year high of $89.05.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last released its quarterly 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 5.83% and a return on equity of 19.88%. The company had revenue of $17.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.64 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.95 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 9th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 4th will be paid a $0.5675 dividend. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 4th. MetLife’s payout ratio is presently 42.75%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MET has been the subject of several recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on MetLife from $100.00 to $103.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target 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. Wolfe Research raised shares of MetLife to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 16th. Piper Sandler cut shares of MetLife from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $84.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Friday, September 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of MetLife from $96.00 to $92.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $95.00.

MetLife Company Profile

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.