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

Groupama Asset Managment grew its holdings in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 1.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 730,866 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 8,978 shares during the period. Groupama Asset Managment owned 0.11% of MetLife worth $57,695,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Trustmark Bank Trust Department raised its holdings in MetLife by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Trustmark Bank Trust Department now owns 2,870 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $236,000 after acquiring an additional 127 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of MetLife by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC now owns 26,953 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,128,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares during the last quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of MetLife by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 10,156 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $802,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares in the last quarter. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH grew its position in shares of MetLife by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH now owns 30,431 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,402,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bridgewater Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of MetLife by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Bridgewater Advisors Inc. now owns 4,113 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $315,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. 94.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MetLife Price Performance

MetLife stock opened at $85.76 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $80.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $77.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.20 and a current ratio of 0.20. MetLife, Inc. has a 1 year low of $67.33 and a 1 year high of $89.62. The company has a market capitalization of $55.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.78.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.15. MetLife had a net margin of 4.66% and a return on equity of 22.60%. The firm had revenue of $14.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.49 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.96 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.98 earnings per share for the current year.

MetLife Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 9th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th were given a dividend of $0.5925 per share. This is an increase from MetLife’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.37 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 12th. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.93%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MET has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on MetLife from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Evercore set a $96.00 target price on MetLife in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Barclays lifted their price target on MetLife from $89.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of MetLife from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of MetLife from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MetLife currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $95.31.

Key Headlines Impacting MetLife

Here are the key news stories impacting MetLife this week:

• Neutral Sentiment: World Cup coverage is keeping MetLife Stadium in the headlines, including reports that the final will be played there and that the venue is drawing unusually high attention from fans and media. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: There are also logistics-related stories about congestion and commuter concerns around MetLife Stadium during World Cup events, which may matter more to event operations than to MetLife’s core financial performance. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Several players and coaches, including France’s Adrien Rabiot and Didier Deschamps, publicly criticized the MetLife Stadium pitch as hard and poor-quality, raising concerns about the venue’s surface and potentially creating reputational noise around the stadium. Article Title

MetLife 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.