Portside Wealth Group LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

by · The Markets Daily

Portside Wealth Group LLC lifted its position in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET – Free Report) by 3.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,689 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 444 shares during the period. Portside Wealth Group LLC’s holdings in MetLife were worth $957,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in MET. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of MetLife in the 4th quarter valued at $730,716,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in MetLife by 33.7% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 24,663,239 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,019,427,000 after purchasing an additional 6,213,923 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of MetLife by 109.2% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,826,658 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $722,727,000 after purchasing an additional 4,606,748 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of MetLife by 43.7% in the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 5,663,177 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $463,701,000 after buying an additional 1,723,461 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of MetLife by 15.7% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,052,202 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $577,434,000 after buying an additional 958,458 shares during the period. 94.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MetLife Stock Down 0.6%

NYSE:MET opened at $78.86 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a current ratio of 0.16. The company has a market capitalization of $52.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 0.86. MetLife, Inc. has a one year low of $65.21 and a one year high of $89.05. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $76.21 and a 200 day simple moving average of $80.92.

MetLife (NYSE:MET – Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.96 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.00 by ($0.04). MetLife had a return on equity of 20.42% and a net margin of 6.19%. The firm had revenue of $18.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.06 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.83 EPS. MetLife’s revenue was up 15.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

MetLife Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.5675 per share. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.88%. This is a boost from MetLife’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 6th. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio is 36.91%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. UBS Group boosted their price target on MetLife from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of MetLife from $88.00 to $86.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of MetLife from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of MetLife in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on MetLife from $95.00 to $88.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $94.17.

Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on MetLife

MetLife Profile

(Free Report)

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.

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