Pensionfund Sabic Takes Position in MetLife, Inc. $MET

Pensionfund Sabic purchased a new stake in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 17,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,381,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of MetLife by 13.3% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,749,521 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,333,418,000 after purchasing an additional 7,578,199 shares in the last quarter. Dodge & Cox lifted its stake in shares of MetLife by 0.9% in the third quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 53,659,664 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,419,947,000 after purchasing an additional 477,783 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in MetLife by 1.5% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,572,807 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,035,622,000 after buying an additional 180,683 shares in the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC grew its position in MetLife by 5.8% during the third quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 9,672,023 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $796,685,000 after buying an additional 527,388 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in MetLife in the second quarter valued at about $756,104,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of MetLife from $101.00 to $93.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Weiss Ratings cut MetLife from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Monday, March 9th. UBS Group lifted their price target on MetLife from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Evercore set a $95.00 price objective on shares of MetLife in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. Finally, Barclays set a $90.00 target price on shares of MetLife in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $93.67.

MetLife Stock Performance

NYSE:MET opened at $69.82 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $74.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $77.74. The company has a current ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 0.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. MetLife, Inc. has a twelve month low of $65.21 and a twelve month high of $85.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.85, a PEG ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 0.76.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.49 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.34 by $0.15. MetLife had a return on equity of 21.81% and a net margin of 4.38%.The company had revenue of $52.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $31.43 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.08 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 27.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 3rd were given a dividend of $0.5675 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 3rd. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. MetLife’s payout ratio is 48.30%.

MetLife Company 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.