17,500 Shares in MetLife, Inc. $MET Bought by Pensionfund Sabic

Pensionfund Sabic purchased a new position in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 17,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,381,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Stolper Co boosted its holdings in MetLife by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Stolper Co now owns 29,247 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,309,000 after purchasing an additional 873 shares in the last quarter. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in MetLife by 27.9% during the fourth quarter. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC now owns 4,081 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $322,000 after purchasing an additional 889 shares in the last quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in MetLife during the fourth quarter worth approximately $137,000. Avanza Fonder AB lifted its position in shares of MetLife by 21.4% during the 4th quarter. Avanza Fonder AB now owns 46,951 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,706,000 after buying an additional 8,288 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in shares of MetLife by 13,486.2% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 220,233 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $17,385,000 after buying an additional 218,612 shares in the last quarter. 94.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on MET. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of MetLife from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Monday, March 9th. Evercore set a $95.00 price objective on shares of MetLife in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on MetLife from $101.00 to $93.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. UBS Group boosted their target price on MetLife from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on MetLife from $97.00 to $93.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $93.67.

MetLife Price Performance

MetLife stock opened at $69.82 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.20 and a quick ratio of 0.20. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $74.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $77.74. MetLife, Inc. has a 12 month low of $65.21 and a 12 month high of $85.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.52 billion, a PE ratio of 14.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 0.76.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.34 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $52.44 billion for 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%. MetLife’s revenue was up 27.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.08 EPS. Equities analysts predict that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.5675 per share. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 3rd. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.30%.

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.