Pzena Investment Management LLC Makes New Investment in MetLife, Inc. $MET

Pzena Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 11,130,983 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $941,792,000. MetLife comprises 2.8% of Pzena Investment Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 12th largest position.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of MetLife in the second quarter valued at about $4,381,692,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in MetLife during the fourth quarter worth about $639,986,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in MetLife by 12.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 72,555,335 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,727,518,000 after purchasing an additional 7,805,814 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in MetLife in the second quarter valued at approximately $293,287,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG bought a new position in MetLife in the second quarter valued at approximately $220,206,000. Institutional investors own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

MetLife Stock Performance

MET opened at $96.73 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 0.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. MetLife, Inc. has a 12-month low of $67.33 and a 12-month high of $100.93. The business has a 50 day moving average of $91.77 and a 200-day moving average of $81.72. The stock has a market cap of $62.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.53, a PEG ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 0.78.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The financial services provider reported $2.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.13. MetLife had a return on equity of 23.39% and a net margin of 4.57%.The business had revenue of $13.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.67 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.02 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.7 earnings per share for the current year.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 8th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 4th will be given a dividend of $0.5925 per share. This represents a $2.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 4th. MetLife’s payout ratio is 45.40%.

MetLife declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, August 5th that authorizes the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to purchase up to 4.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MET has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on MetLife from $86.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of MetLife from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of MetLife from $95.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of MetLife from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on shares of MetLife from $102.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MetLife currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $101.07.

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.