Paradigm Capital Management LLC NV Takes $890,000 Position in MetLife, Inc. $MET

Paradigm Capital Management LLC NV purchased a new stake in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 10,517 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $890,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fiduciary Financial Advisors purchased a new stake in MetLife in the 2nd quarter valued at about $123,000. Cetera Trust Company N.A bought a new position in shares of MetLife in the second quarter valued at approximately $2,285,000. Aberdeen Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of MetLife in the second quarter valued at approximately $62,000. Algert Global LLC increased its position in shares of MetLife by 9.9% during the second quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 59,661 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,048,000 after acquiring an additional 5,375 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Asset One Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in MetLife during the second quarter worth $703,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MET. UBS Group upped their price objective on MetLife from $102.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on MetLife from $106.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of MetLife from $86.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of MetLife from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Monday, June 15th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of MetLife from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, MetLife has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $102.21.

MetLife Trading Up 2.0%

Shares of MET opened at $96.20 on Tuesday. MetLife, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $67.33 and a fifty-two week high of $100.93. The business has a 50-day moving average of $92.58 and a 200 day moving average of $82.32. The firm has a market cap of $61.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.20 and a current ratio of 0.20.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The financial services provider reported $2.43 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $13.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.67 billion. MetLife had a net margin of 4.57% and a return on equity of 23.39%. The company’s revenue was up 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.02 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.72 EPS for the current year.

MetLife declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, August 5th that allows the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to purchase up to 4.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 8th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.5925 per share. This represents a $2.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 4th. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio is presently 45.40%.

About MetLife

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.