MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) Shares Acquired by Swedbank AB

Swedbank AB increased its stake in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 5.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,970,163 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 99,328 shares during the quarter. Swedbank AB owned about 0.28% of MetLife worth $162,499,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of MET. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in MetLife by 3.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,622,348 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,418,612,000 after purchasing an additional 1,974,268 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in MetLife by 22.4% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,396,274 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $378,799,000 after purchasing an additional 988,666 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in MetLife by 5.4% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,299,800 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $371,993,000 after purchasing an additional 269,246 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in MetLife by 3.2% in the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,224,930 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $226,358,000 after purchasing an additional 100,782 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in MetLife by 4.1% during the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,772,751 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $205,544,000 after buying an additional 108,739 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.81% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MET has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded MetLife from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. TD Cowen initiated coverage on MetLife in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. They set a “buy” rating and a $97.00 target price on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on MetLife from $86.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 8th. Barclays started coverage on MetLife in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $91.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price target on MetLife from $85.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $88.46.

MetLife Price Performance

Shares of MET stock traded up $0.15 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $86.03. 1,019,192 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,327,927. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a current ratio of 0.16. The firm has a market cap of $61.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.69 and a beta of 1.04. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $77.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $73.79. MetLife, Inc. has a twelve month low of $57.91 and a twelve month high of $86.94.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $2.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.13 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $17.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.57 billion. MetLife had a return on equity of 21.41% and a net margin of 4.23%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.94 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that MetLife, Inc. will post 8.61 earnings per share for the current year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 5th will be given a $0.545 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 5th. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.53%. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 74.91%.

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.