Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado Cuts Stock Holdings in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado lessened its stake in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 7.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 87,640 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 7,018 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado’s holdings in MetLife were worth $6,495,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MET. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in MetLife in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $558,460,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of MetLife by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,622,348 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,418,612,000 after purchasing an additional 1,974,268 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of MetLife by 20.9% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,053,851 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $268,090,000 after purchasing an additional 700,788 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of MetLife by 29.7% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 2,120,275 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $157,133,000 after purchasing an additional 485,811 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Groupama Asset Managment purchased a new stake in shares of MetLife during the 4th quarter worth $28,425,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.81% of the company’s stock.

MetLife Stock Performance

Shares of MetLife stock traded down $0.18 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $75.82. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 913,537 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,311,889. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a current ratio of 0.16. MetLife, Inc. has a one year low of $57.91 and a one year high of $76.90. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $71.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $71.02. The stock has a market cap of $53.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.11.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The financial services provider reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.83. MetLife had a net margin of 3.50% and a return on equity of 20.39%. The company had revenue of $17.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.73 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.52 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that MetLife, Inc. will post 8.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MetLife announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, May 1st that allows the company to buyback $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to reacquire up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 6th will be paid a $0.545 dividend. This represents a $2.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 6th. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 74.91%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on MET shares. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of MetLife from $85.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 6th. StockNews.com lowered shares of MetLife from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 1st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of MetLife from $82.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of MetLife from $83.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Argus boosted their price target on shares of MetLife from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, MetLife currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.08.

MetLife Profile

MetLife, Inc, a financial services company, provides insurance, annuities, employee benefits, and asset management services worldwide. It operates through six segments: Retirement and Income Solutions; Group Benefits; Asia; Latin America; Europe, the Middle East and Africa; and MetLife Holdings. The company offers life, dental, group short-and long-term disability, individual disability, pet insurance, accidental death and dismemberment, vision, and accident and health coverages, as well as prepaid legal plans; administrative services-only arrangements to employers; and general and separate account, and synthetic guaranteed interest contracts, as well as private floating rate funding agreements.