Strs Ohio Has $18.23 Million Stock Holdings in MetLife, Inc. $MET

Strs Ohio decreased its stake in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 21.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 257,743 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 68,348 shares during the quarter. Strs Ohio’s holdings in MetLife were worth $18,228,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in MET. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of MetLife in the fourth quarter valued at $639,986,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised 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 worth $5,727,518,000 after acquiring an additional 7,805,814 shares in the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in MetLife by 22.9% in the fourth quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 11,883,338 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $938,071,000 after acquiring an additional 2,211,315 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of MetLife by 105.3% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,305,620 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $271,424,000 after acquiring an additional 1,695,563 shares during the period. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of MetLife by 173.4% during the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,641,253 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $135,190,000 after purchasing an additional 1,040,894 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MET. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of MetLife from $86.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Wall Street Zen downgraded MetLife from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on MetLife from $87.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Barclays raised their price objective on MetLife from $89.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on MetLife from $89.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $95.62.

MetLife Stock Performance

NYSE MET opened at $89.90 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $57.84 billion, a PE ratio of 17.42, a P/E/G ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.20 and a current ratio of 0.20. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $83.11 and a 200-day moving average of $78.34. MetLife, Inc. has a 52-week low of $67.33 and a 52-week high of $90.06.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.42 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $14.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.49 billion. MetLife had a net margin of 4.66% and a return on equity of 22.60%. MetLife’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.96 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.98 EPS for the current year.

MetLife Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 9th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th were given a $0.5925 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 12th. This is a positive change from MetLife’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.37 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 45.93%.

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.