FORA Capital LLC Buys New Holdings in MetLife, Inc. $MET

FORA Capital LLC purchased a new position in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 29,190 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,347,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Quaker Wealth Management LLC grew its position in MetLife by 198.2% in the 2nd quarter. Quaker Wealth Management LLC now owns 333 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 672 shares during the period. MTM Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of MetLife in the second quarter valued at $37,000. GFG Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of MetLife during the second quarter valued at about $38,000. Abound Wealth Management increased its position in shares of MetLife by 652.3% during the second quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 489 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 424 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legend Financial Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of MetLife in the 2nd quarter worth about $40,000. Institutional investors own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MET has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on MetLife from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of MetLife in a report on Monday, December 8th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on MetLife from $96.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on shares of MetLife from $92.00 to $90.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 11th. Finally, Piper Sandler downgraded shares of MetLife from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $84.00 target price for the company. in a report on Friday, September 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $94.60.

MetLife Price Performance

MET opened at $82.08 on Friday. MetLife, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $65.21 and a fifty-two week high of $88.09. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $78.47 and a 200 day moving average of $78.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.18 and a current ratio of 0.18. The firm has a market cap of $54.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.46, a PEG ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.76.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The financial services provider reported $2.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.07. MetLife had a net margin of 5.30% and a return on equity of 21.00%. The firm had revenue of $12.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.95 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 EPS for the current year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 9th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 4th were issued a dividend of $0.5675 per share. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 4th. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio is 42.75%.

MetLife 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.