MetLife, Inc. $MET Shares Purchased by Leonteq Securities AG

Leonteq Securities AG grew its holdings in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 90.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 24,502 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 11,647 shares during the quarter. Leonteq Securities AG’s holdings in MetLife were worth $1,733,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in MetLife by 9.0% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 4,240 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $347,000 after buying an additional 351 shares in the last quarter. Caxton Associates LLP bought a new stake in shares of MetLife during the 1st quarter worth about $307,000. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its stake in shares of MetLife by 187.6% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 33,378 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,680,000 after acquiring an additional 21,771 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MetLife in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $404,000. Finally, Jump Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of MetLife in the second quarter valued at approximately $444,000. Institutional investors own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

MetLife Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MET opened at $89.90 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $83.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $78.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $57.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.42, a PEG ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 0.78. 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, Inc. has a 52-week low of $67.33 and a 52-week high of $90.06.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.42 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.15. MetLife had a return on equity of 22.60% and a net margin of 4.66%.The business had revenue of $14.18 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.49 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.96 earnings per share. MetLife’s revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 9th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th were given a $0.5925 dividend. This represents a $2.37 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. This is an increase from MetLife’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 12th. MetLife’s payout ratio is 45.93%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on MET shares. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on MetLife from $86.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on MetLife from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on MetLife from $89.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. UBS Group raised their target price on MetLife from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, Evercore set a $96.00 target price on MetLife in a report on Thursday, April 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, MetLife presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $95.62.

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.