North Dakota State Investment Board Makes New $1.52 Million Investment in MetLife, Inc. $MET

North Dakota State Investment Board bought a new position in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 19,298 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,523,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MET. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of MetLife by 12.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 72,555,335 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,727,518,000 after buying an additional 7,805,814 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MetLife by 105.3% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,305,620 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $271,424,000 after buying an additional 1,695,563 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of MetLife by 173.4% during the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,641,253 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $135,190,000 after purchasing an additional 1,040,894 shares during the last quarter. Man Group plc lifted its stake in shares of MetLife by 325.5% during the 2nd quarter. Man Group plc now owns 1,344,551 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $108,129,000 after purchasing an additional 1,028,554 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab purchased a new stake in shares of MetLife during the 4th quarter worth $81,494,000. 94.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on MetLife from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Wall Street Zen cut MetLife from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on MetLife from $91.00 to $88.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on MetLife from $87.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on MetLife from $101.00 to $93.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $95.15.

MetLife Stock Down 0.4%

MetLife stock opened at $81.05 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $52.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 0.78. MetLife, Inc. has a 52 week low of $67.33 and a 52 week high of $83.85. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $74.26 and its 200 day moving average price is $76.56. The company has a quick ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 0.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.42 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $14.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.49 billion. MetLife had a return on equity of 22.60% and a net margin of 4.66%.MetLife’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.96 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.92 earnings per share for the current year.

MetLife Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 9th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th will be issued a $0.5925 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 12th. This is an increase from MetLife’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.37 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio is 45.93%.

MetLife 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.