Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ Increases Stock Position in MetLife, Inc. $MET

Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ boosted its holdings in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 187,358 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,469 shares during the period. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ’s holdings in MetLife were worth $15,433,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of MetLife by 13.3% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,749,521 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,333,418,000 after buying an additional 7,578,199 shares during the period. Pzena Investment Management LLC raised its stake in MetLife by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 9,672,023 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $796,685,000 after acquiring an additional 527,388 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in MetLife during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $756,104,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in MetLife by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,624,582 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $532,749,000 after acquiring an additional 162,041 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of MetLife by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,512,620 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $367,643,000 after purchasing an additional 86,519 shares during the last quarter. 94.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MetLife Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of MET opened at $79.05 on Monday. MetLife, Inc. has a twelve month low of $65.21 and a twelve month high of $87.39. The company has a current ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 0.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $51.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.82, a PEG ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 0.77. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $78.76 and its two-hundred day moving average is $78.95.

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

MetLife Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of MetLife from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Mizuho set a $100.00 target price on shares of MetLife in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of MetLife from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of MetLife from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $101.00 target price on MetLife and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, MetLife has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $95.27.

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.