Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Has $9.78 Million Stake in MetLife, Inc. $MET

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its holdings in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 9.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 118,701 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,183 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in MetLife were worth $9,777,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MET. Allworth Financial LP boosted its position in shares of MetLife by 13.4% during the 2nd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 10,893 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $876,000 after acquiring an additional 1,285 shares in the last quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in MetLife during the third quarter valued at approximately $6,649,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in MetLife by 188.1% during the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 417,515 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $33,577,000 after purchasing an additional 272,619 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its holdings in shares of MetLife by 8.9% in the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,176,469 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $96,905,000 after purchasing an additional 96,523 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of MetLife by 256.8% in the 3rd quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 62,662 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,161,000 after purchasing an additional 45,100 shares during the last quarter. 94.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

MetLife Stock Down 2.0%

NYSE:MET opened at $77.28 on Friday. MetLife, Inc. has a one year low of $65.21 and a one year high of $87.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.20 and a quick ratio of 0.18. The company has a market cap of $50.92 billion, a PE ratio of 16.44, a P/E/G ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 0.77. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $78.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $78.80.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.34 by $0.24. The firm had revenue of $18.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $31.43 billion. MetLife had a net margin of 4.38% and a return on equity of 21.81%. The company’s revenue was up 27.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.08 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.5675 per share. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 3rd. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.30%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on MET. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on MetLife from $92.00 to $90.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. Evercore set a $97.00 target price on shares of MetLife and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of MetLife from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Evercore ISI set a $95.00 price objective on shares of MetLife in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $101.00 target price on shares of MetLife and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MetLife currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $95.42.

About MetLife

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.