Pacific Capital Partners Ltd Buys Shares of 37,500 MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Pacific Capital Partners Ltd bought a new stake in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund bought 37,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,011,000. MetLife makes up approximately 1.9% of Pacific Capital Partners Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest holding.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Tredje AP fonden grew its position in MetLife by 19.3% in the 1st quarter. Tredje AP fonden now owns 607,132 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $48,747,000 after acquiring an additional 98,079 shares in the last quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd grew its position in MetLife by 195.6% in the 1st quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 1,691 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $136,000 after acquiring an additional 1,119 shares in the last quarter. Vestcor Inc grew its position in MetLife by 12.3% in the 1st quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 11,723 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $941,000 after acquiring an additional 1,286 shares in the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd boosted its stake in shares of MetLife by 174.4% in the 1st quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 30,635 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,460,000 after buying an additional 19,472 shares during the period. Finally, Banque Cantonale Vaudoise purchased a new position in shares of MetLife in the 1st quarter valued at about $2,172,000. 94.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $97.00 price objective (up previously from $94.00) on shares of MetLife in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on MetLife from $95.00 to $94.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on MetLife from $92.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on MetLife from $99.00 to $98.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut MetLife from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $96.09.

MetLife Trading Up 0.1%

NYSE:MET opened at $77.72 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $52.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.64, a PEG ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a current ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $78.56 and its 200-day simple moving average is $79.62. MetLife, Inc. has a 12-month low of $65.21 and a 12-month high of $89.05.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.00 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $18.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.06 billion. MetLife had a net margin of 6.08% and a return on equity of 20.89%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.83 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 EPS for the current year.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 9th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 5th will be given a $0.5675 dividend. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.92%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 5th. MetLife’s payout ratio is 36.91%.

MetLife declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, April 30th that allows the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to buy up to 5.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.