Hudson Value Partners LLC Buys Shares of 2,600 MetLife, Inc. $MET

Hudson Value Partners LLC bought a new stake in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 2,600 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $209,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. North Capital Inc. acquired a new stake in MetLife in the first quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Motco boosted its stake in MetLife by 105.5% in the first quarter. Motco now owns 413 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 212 shares in the last quarter. Abound Wealth Management boosted its stake in MetLife by 652.3% in the second quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 489 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 424 shares in the last quarter. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in MetLife in the second quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Finally, WPG Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of MetLife in the first quarter worth $46,000. 94.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on MET shares. Barclays raised their price target on shares of MetLife from $88.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 7th. Wolfe Research raised shares of MetLife to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 16th. Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of MetLife in a report on Friday, August 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of MetLife from $86.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $97.00 price target (up previously from $94.00) on shares of MetLife in a report on Thursday, July 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $94.64.

MetLife Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of MetLife stock opened at $82.06 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.16 and a quick ratio of 0.16. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $78.96 and a 200 day moving average price of $78.20. MetLife, Inc. has a 1 year low of $65.21 and a 1 year high of $89.05. The stock has a market cap of $54.57 billion, a PE ratio of 13.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 0.86.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last issued 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 business had revenue of $17.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.58 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.28 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current year.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 9th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 5th were given a dividend of $0.5675 per share. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 5th. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 38.47%.

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.