CTC Alternative Strategies Ltd. Purchases Shares of 5,400 MetLife, Inc. $MET

CTC Alternative Strategies Ltd. purchased a new position in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 5,400 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $382,000.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of MetLife by 12.1% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC grew its stake in MetLife by 22.9% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in MetLife during the 4th quarter worth about $639,986,000. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in MetLife by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,012,198 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $553,543,000 after purchasing an additional 176,811 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in MetLife by 2.5% in the 4th 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 purchasing an additional 126,098 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

MetLife Trading Down 0.9%

MET opened at $96.21 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.20 and a current ratio of 0.20. MetLife, Inc. has a one year low of $67.33 and a one year high of $97.80. The company has a market cap of $61.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.64, a PEG ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 0.78. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $88.67 and its 200-day simple moving average is $80.13.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $14.18 billion during 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%.The firm’s revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.96 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 8th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 4th will be given a dividend of $0.5925 per share. This represents a $2.37 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 4th. MetLife’s payout ratio is currently 45.93%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MET has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wall Street Zen cut MetLife from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Evercore set a $96.00 target price on shares of MetLife in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of MetLife from $86.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of MetLife from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of MetLife from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Monday, June 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently 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.