Groupama Asset Managment Grows Stake in MetLife, Inc. $MET

Groupama Asset Managment increased its holdings in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 9.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 721,888 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 62,713 shares during the quarter. Groupama Asset Managment’s holdings in MetLife were worth $59,462,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in MetLife by 13.3% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,749,521 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,333,418,000 after purchasing an additional 7,578,199 shares in the last quarter. Dodge & Cox grew its position in shares of MetLife by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 53,659,664 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,419,947,000 after buying an additional 477,783 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of MetLife by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,572,807 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,035,622,000 after buying an additional 180,683 shares during the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC raised its stake in MetLife by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 9,672,023 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $796,685,000 after acquiring an additional 527,388 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in MetLife in the second quarter valued at $756,104,000. 94.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MetLife Stock Down 1.1%

MET opened at $68.56 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $75.52 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $78.09. MetLife, Inc. has a 52 week low of $65.21 and a 52 week high of $85.00. The company has a market cap of $44.70 billion, a PE ratio of 14.59, a P/E/G ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a quick ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 0.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.34 by $0.15. MetLife had a return on equity of 21.81% and a net margin of 4.38%.The business had revenue of $52.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $31.43 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.08 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 EPS for the current year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 3rd were paid a $0.5675 dividend. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 3rd. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.30%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MET has been the topic of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on MetLife from $97.00 to $93.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Weiss Ratings cut MetLife from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Mizuho set a $100.00 price target on MetLife in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on MetLife from $91.00 to $88.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of MetLife from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $93.67.

MetLife Company Profile

MetLife, Inc is a global provider of insurance, annuities and employee benefit programs. Headquartered in New York City, the company offers a range of risk protection and retirement solutions to individuals, employers and institutional clients. Its core businesses include life insurance, group benefits, retirement products such as annuities, and supplemental health products including dental and disability coverage.

In addition to traditional life and group insurance, MetLife provides workplace benefits and voluntary products distributed through employer-sponsored programs.