First Trust Advisors LP Has $136.28 Million Position in MetLife, Inc. $MET

First Trust Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 4.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,927,084 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 84,064 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned about 0.30% of MetLife worth $136,283,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MET. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of MetLife by 12.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 72,555,335 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,727,518,000 after acquiring an additional 7,805,814 shares during the period. Pzena Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in MetLife by 22.9% during the fourth quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 11,883,338 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $938,071,000 after purchasing an additional 2,211,315 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in MetLife during the fourth quarter worth about $639,986,000. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in MetLife by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,012,198 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $553,543,000 after buying an additional 176,811 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in MetLife by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,201,175 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $410,581,000 after buying an additional 126,098 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

MetLife Stock Performance

NYSE:MET opened at $92.65 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $59.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.95, a PEG ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.78. MetLife, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $67.33 and a fifty-two week high of $94.86. 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 stock has a fifty day moving average price of $86.97 and a 200-day moving average price of $79.45.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.42 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $14.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.49 billion. MetLife had a return on equity of 22.60% and a net margin of 4.66%.MetLife’s revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.96 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 8th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 4th will be issued a $0.5925 dividend. This represents a $2.37 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 4th. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 45.93%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MET has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on MetLife from $96.00 to $106.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Wall Street Zen cut shares of 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 shares of MetLife from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of MetLife from $103.00 to $99.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of MetLife from $97.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. One 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $100.50.

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.