Csenge Advisory Group Buys New Holdings in MetLife, Inc. $MET

Csenge Advisory Group purchased a new position in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 9,559 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $809,000.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of MET. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in shares of MetLife by 9.0% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 4,240 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $347,000 after buying an additional 351 shares during the period. Caxton Associates LLP purchased a new stake in MetLife during the 1st quarter valued at $307,000. Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in MetLife by 187.6% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 33,378 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,680,000 after acquiring an additional 21,771 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of MetLife in the second quarter valued at about $404,000. Finally, Jump Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of MetLife in the second quarter valued at about $444,000. 94.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MET. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of MetLife from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Monday, June 15th. Mizuho boosted their price target on MetLife from $95.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. UBS Group upped their price target on MetLife from $102.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on MetLife from $106.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut MetLife from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MetLife presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $101.64.

MetLife Trading Down 1.7%

NYSE:MET opened at $95.12 on Thursday. MetLife, Inc. has a one year low of $67.33 and a one year high of $100.93. 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 company’s 50-day simple moving average is $92.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $81.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $61.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.22, a PEG ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 0.78.

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

MetLife Announces Dividend

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

MetLife announced that its board has approved a share buyback program on Wednesday, August 5th that allows the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to buy up to 4.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

MetLife Company 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.