Jupiter Topco LLC Acquires New Shares in MetLife, Inc. $MET

Jupiter Topco LLC acquired a new position in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 183,072 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $15,491,000.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Strs Ohio lifted its stake in MetLife by 16.6% during the fourth quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 326,091 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,742,000 after purchasing an additional 46,469 shares in the last quarter. PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab acquired a new stake in shares of MetLife in the fourth quarter valued at $81,494,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of MetLife by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 622,789 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $49,163,000 after buying an additional 13,657 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia acquired a new position in MetLife during the 2nd quarter worth about $14,182,000. Finally, OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp purchased a new position in MetLife during the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,683,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on MET shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on MetLife from $101.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of MetLife from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of MetLife from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Evercore reaffirmed a “mixed” rating on shares of MetLife in a research note on Monday, August 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of MetLife from $86.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $102.21.

MetLife Stock Up 0.3%

MET stock opened at $96.57 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $93.39 and its 200 day moving average price is $82.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $62.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.50, a PEG ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 0.78. MetLife, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $67.33 and a fifty-two week high of $100.93. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The financial services provider reported $2.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.13. MetLife had a net margin of 4.57% and a return on equity of 23.39%. The company had revenue of $13.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.67 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.02 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 4th. This represents a $2.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. MetLife’s payout ratio is presently 45.40%.

MetLife announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, August 5th that allows the company to buyback $3.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to purchase up to 4.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.