MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) Shares Bought by Wedge Capital Management L L P NC

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC boosted its position in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 12.0% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 605,850 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 65,113 shares during the quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC’s holdings in MetLife were worth $42,525,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. PGGM Investments lifted its position in MetLife by 1,803.4% during the 2nd quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 69,796 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,899,000 after acquiring an additional 66,129 shares during the period. Monetary Management Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of MetLife by 9.2% during the 2nd quarter. Monetary Management Group Inc. now owns 2,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $140,000 after buying an additional 168 shares during the last quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of MetLife by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. now owns 179,618 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $12,607,000 after buying an additional 1,969 shares during the last quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of MetLife by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. now owns 9,341 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $656,000 after buying an additional 294 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SJS Investment Consulting Inc. raised its stake in shares of MetLife by 64.4% during the 2nd quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 865 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $61,000 after buying an additional 339 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.81% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MET has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on MetLife from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Citigroup lifted their price target on MetLife from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on MetLife from $82.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Argus lifted their price target on MetLife from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on MetLife from $86.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $82.85.

MetLife Trading Up 0.8 %

NYSE MET traded up $0.55 on Thursday, reaching $71.73. The stock had a trading volume of 3,904,113 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,368,134. The firm has a market capitalization of $51.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.61, a P/E/G ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a quick ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. MetLife, Inc. has a 12-month low of $57.91 and a 12-month high of $79.34. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $71.68 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $71.24.

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

MetLife Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 6th will be given a $0.545 dividend. This represents a $2.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 6th. MetLife’s payout ratio is 74.91%.

MetLife announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, May 1st that permits the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to buy up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

About MetLife

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.