Legal & General Group Plc Has $347.12 Million Holdings in MetLife, Inc. $MET

Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 6.9% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 4,214,132 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 273,555 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in MetLife were worth $347,118,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of MET. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MetLife by 9.0% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 4,240 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $347,000 after purchasing an additional 351 shares in the last quarter. Caxton Associates LLP bought a new stake in MetLife during the 1st quarter worth approximately $307,000. Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in MetLife by 187.6% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 33,378 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,680,000 after buying an additional 21,771 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in MetLife in the second quarter valued at approximately $404,000. Finally, Penserra Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in MetLife by 8.9% in the second quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 3,146 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $252,000 after buying an additional 257 shares in the last quarter. 94.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of MetLife from $97.00 to $93.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of MetLife from $91.00 to $88.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Evercore set a $95.00 target price on shares of MetLife in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. Mizuho set a $100.00 price target on MetLife in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on MetLife from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $93.67.

MetLife Stock Down 0.9%

Shares of MET stock opened at $69.96 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $76.65 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $78.52. The company has a current ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 0.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. MetLife, Inc. has a 1 year low of $65.21 and a 1 year high of $85.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.88, a PEG ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 0.76.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.49 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.34 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $52.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $31.43 billion. MetLife had a net margin of 4.38% and a return on equity of 21.81%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 27.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.08 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 3rd were given a dividend of $0.5675 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 3rd. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio is 48.30%.

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.