New York State Teachers Retirement System Has $32.94 Million Holdings in MetLife, Inc. $MET

New York State Teachers Retirement System decreased its holdings in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 7.9% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 465,717 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 39,826 shares during the quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in MetLife were worth $32,936,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MET. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of MetLife by 12.1% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Dodge & Cox lifted its holdings in MetLife by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 53,659,664 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,419,947,000 after purchasing an additional 477,783 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in MetLife by 1.5% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,572,807 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,035,622,000 after purchasing an additional 180,683 shares during the period. Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its position 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. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of MetLife in the fourth quarter valued at $639,986,000. 94.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on MET shares. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of MetLife from $86.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of MetLife from $103.00 to $99.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of MetLife from $89.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of MetLife from $87.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on MetLife from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $95.62.

MetLife Stock Down 0.2%

MET stock opened at $89.90 on Friday. MetLife, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $67.33 and a fifty-two week high of $90.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.20 and a quick ratio of 0.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $57.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.42, a PEG ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 0.78. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $83.11 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $78.34.

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

MetLife Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 9th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th were issued a $0.5925 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 12th. This represents a $2.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.6%. This is an increase from MetLife’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. MetLife’s payout ratio is presently 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.