Carderock Capital Management Inc. Invests $80,000 in MetLife, Inc. $MET

Carderock Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 1,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $80,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of MetLife by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. now owns 171,273 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,774,000 after purchasing an additional 1,006 shares in the last quarter. Polianta Ltd purchased a new position in shares of MetLife in the 2nd quarter worth about $1,278,000. Community Trust & Investment Co. boosted its holdings in shares of MetLife by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Community Trust & Investment Co. now owns 42,739 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,437,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB boosted its holdings in shares of MetLife by 11.6% in the 2nd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 3,161,390 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $254,239,000 after purchasing an additional 329,582 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA boosted its holdings in shares of MetLife by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA now owns 29,066 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,337,000 after purchasing an additional 443 shares in the last quarter. 94.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MetLife Trading Up 0.6%

MET opened at $79.13 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $78.27 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $78.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $52.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.41, a PEG ratio of 0.71 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 one year low of $65.21 and a one year high of $89.05.

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

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 9th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 5th were paid a dividend of $0.5675 per share. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 5th. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 38.47%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on MET shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on MetLife from $94.00 to $92.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on MetLife from $98.00 to $94.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on MetLife from $86.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Barclays boosted their target price on MetLife from $88.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 7th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised MetLife to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $95.55.

MetLife 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.