MetLife, Inc. $MET Shares Purchased by Argyle Capital Management LLC

Argyle Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 37,653 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 450 shares during the quarter. Argyle Capital Management LLC’s holdings in MetLife were worth $3,028,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in MetLife in the first quarter valued at $336,965,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in MetLife in the first quarter valued at $312,946,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in MetLife by 7.4% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 26,488,146 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,126,734,000 after purchasing an additional 1,824,907 shares during the period. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. acquired a new position in MetLife in the first quarter valued at $68,030,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in MetLife by 85.0% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,321,881 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $104,270,000 after purchasing an additional 607,333 shares during the period. 94.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on MET shares. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of MetLife from $94.00 to $91.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of MetLife from $86.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of MetLife in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. Piper Sandler lowered shares of MetLife from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $84.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Friday, September 19th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on shares of MetLife from $94.00 to $92.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $95.18.

MetLife Stock Down 0.1%

MET stock opened at $81.94 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $54.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.89, a P/E/G ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 0.86. MetLife, Inc. has a 52 week low of $65.21 and a 52 week high of $89.05. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $79.56 and its 200 day moving average price is $78.18. The company has a current ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last announced its quarterly 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 net margin of 5.83% and a return on equity of 19.88%. The business had revenue of $17.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.58 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.28 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 9th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 4th will be issued a $0.5675 dividend. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 4th. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio is 38.47%.

About MetLife

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.