Prudential PLC Increases Holdings in MetLife, Inc. $MET

Prudential PLC raised its stake in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 13.3% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 186,146 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 21,840 shares during the period. Prudential PLC’s holdings in MetLife were worth $14,970,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in MetLife during the 1st quarter valued at about $336,965,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MetLife during the first quarter valued at approximately $312,946,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of MetLife by 7.4% during 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 buying an additional 1,824,907 shares during the last quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. bought a new stake in shares of MetLife during the first quarter valued at approximately $68,030,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in MetLife by 85.0% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,321,881 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $104,270,000 after acquiring an additional 607,333 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

MetLife Trading Down 1.1%

MetLife stock opened at $73.93 on Friday. MetLife, Inc. has a 52-week low of $65.21 and a 52-week high of $89.05. The company has a market cap of $48.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.53, a P/E/G ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a quick ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $79.45 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $78.88.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The financial services provider reported $2.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.07. MetLife had a net margin of 5.83% and a return on equity of 19.88%. The company had revenue of $17.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.95 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 EPS for the current year.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 9th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 4th will be given a dividend of $0.5675 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 4th. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.1%. MetLife’s payout ratio is 42.75%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MET has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group reduced their target price on MetLife from $96.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 6th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on MetLife from $96.00 to $92.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 7th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of MetLife from $100.00 to $103.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of MetLife in a research note on Monday. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of MetLife from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $95.00.

MetLife Company 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.