Czech National Bank Has $7.99 Million Holdings in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Czech National Bank lifted its stake in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 5.4% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 113,830 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,819 shares during the quarter. Czech National Bank’s holdings in MetLife were worth $7,990,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of MetLife in the fourth quarter worth $558,460,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 1,974,268 shares during the period. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of MetLife during the 1st quarter worth approximately $131,456,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in MetLife by 20.9% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,053,851 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $268,090,000 after acquiring an additional 700,788 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its stake in MetLife by 29.7% during the first 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. Institutional investors own 89.81% of the company’s stock.

MetLife Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:MET traded up $0.64 during trading on Monday, reaching $70.77. The stock had a trading volume of 1,084,366 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,346,198. The stock has a market cap of $50.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.10, a P/E/G ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a current ratio of 0.16. MetLife, Inc. has a 52 week low of $57.91 and a 52 week high of $79.34. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $71.69 and its 200 day moving average is $71.25.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $2.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.13 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $17.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.57 billion. MetLife had a net margin of 4.23% and a return on equity of 21.41%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.94 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that MetLife, Inc. will post 8.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MetLife announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, May 1st that authorizes the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to buy up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The business 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 3.08%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 6th. MetLife’s payout ratio is 74.91%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MET has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on MetLife from $86.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 10th. Argus raised their price target on shares of MetLife from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. Morgan Stanley increased 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of MetLife from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded MetLife from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $82.77.

MetLife Company 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.