Burney Co. Sells 21,962 Shares of MetLife, Inc. $MET

Burney Co. lessened its stake in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 35.6% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 39,733 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 21,962 shares during the quarter. Burney Co.’s holdings in MetLife were worth $2,810,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of MET. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of MetLife by 12.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 72,555,335 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,727,518,000 after purchasing an additional 7,805,814 shares during the last quarter. Dodge & Cox lifted its holdings in MetLife by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 53,659,664 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,419,947,000 after buying an additional 477,783 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in MetLife by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,572,807 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,035,622,000 after buying an additional 180,683 shares in the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its position in MetLife by 22.9% in the 4th quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 11,883,338 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $938,071,000 after buying an additional 2,211,315 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of MetLife in the 4th quarter valued at $639,986,000. 94.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MET has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on MetLife from $87.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. Evercore set a $96.00 price objective on MetLife in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on MetLife from $86.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of MetLife from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of MetLife from $103.00 to $99.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $96.46.

MetLife Price Performance

NYSE MET opened at $91.76 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.20 and a current ratio of 0.20. The stock has a market cap of $59.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.78, a PEG ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 0.78. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $83.68 and a 200 day simple moving average of $78.43. MetLife, Inc. has a 52-week low of $67.33 and a 52-week high of $92.27.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.49 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.96 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 9th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 12th were given a $0.5925 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 12th. This represents a $2.37 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.6%. This is an increase from MetLife’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. MetLife’s payout ratio is presently 45.93%.

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.