AXQ Capital LP Acquires New Position in MetLife, Inc. $MET

AXQ Capital LP bought a new stake in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 10,124 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $799,000.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Providence Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MetLife during the third quarter worth about $6,649,000. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in MetLife by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,630,165 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $366,524,000 after purchasing an additional 117,545 shares during the last quarter. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co increased its stake in MetLife by 21.9% in the third quarter. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 137,956 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $11,363,000 after purchasing an additional 24,800 shares during the last quarter. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ grew its position in shares of MetLife by 6.5% during the third quarter. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ now owns 187,358 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $15,433,000 after acquiring an additional 11,469 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of MetLife during the third quarter worth approximately $8,091,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of MetLife from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of MetLife from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Wall Street Zen downgraded MetLife from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of MetLife from $89.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of MetLife from $87.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $95.31.

MetLife Trading Up 1.3%

NYSE:MET opened at $82.88 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $53.33 billion, a PE ratio of 16.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a quick ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 0.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. MetLife, Inc. has a 52-week low of $67.33 and a 52-week high of $85.29. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $76.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $76.88.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $14.18 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.49 billion. MetLife had a return on equity of 22.60% and a net margin of 4.66%.The business’s revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.96 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 9th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.5925 per share. This is a boost from MetLife’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 12th. This represents a $2.37 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio is presently 45.93%.

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.