MetLife, Inc. $MET Shares Purchased by Invesco Ltd.

Invesco Ltd. raised its position in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,624,582 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 162,041 shares during the quarter. Invesco Ltd. owned 1.00% of MetLife worth $532,749,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quaker Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in MetLife by 198.2% in the second quarter. Quaker Wealth Management LLC now owns 333 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 672 shares during the last quarter. MTM Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of MetLife in the second quarter worth $37,000. GFG Capital LLC acquired a new stake in MetLife in the second quarter valued at $38,000. Abound Wealth Management grew its holdings in MetLife by 652.3% during the 2nd quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 489 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 424 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legend Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of MetLife in the 2nd quarter worth about $40,000. 94.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on MET. Wolfe Research upgraded MetLife to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 16th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of MetLife from $96.00 to $92.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 7th. UBS Group lowered their target price on MetLife from $96.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of MetLife from $92.00 to $90.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 11th. Finally, Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of MetLife in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $94.60.

MetLife Price Performance

NYSE MET opened at $77.97 on Friday. MetLife, Inc. has a 12 month low of $65.21 and a 12 month high of $88.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $51.38 billion, a PE ratio of 14.68, a P/E/G ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 0.76. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $78.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $78.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.18 and a quick ratio of 0.18.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The financial services provider reported $2.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.07. MetLife had a return on equity of 21.00% and a net margin of 5.30%.The company had revenue of $12.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.64 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.95 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 9th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 4th will be issued a $0.5675 dividend. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 4th. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.75%.

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.