UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp Invests $2.52 Million in MetLife, Inc. $MET

UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp bought a new position in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 29,741 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,516,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MET. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in shares of MetLife by 9.0% during the fourth 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 purchased a new stake in shares of MetLife in the first quarter worth about $307,000. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in MetLife by 187.6% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 33,378 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,680,000 after buying an additional 21,771 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in MetLife during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $404,000. Finally, Jump Financial LLC purchased a new position in MetLife during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $444,000. 94.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MET. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on MetLife from $93.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. 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 research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of MetLife from $95.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of MetLife from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Monday, June 15th. Finally, Atlantic Securities set a $103.00 price objective on shares of MetLife in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $101.07.

MetLife Price Performance

NYSE:MET opened at $96.73 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $62.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.53, a PEG ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.20 and a quick ratio of 0.20. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $91.77 and a 200-day simple moving average of $81.72. MetLife, Inc. has a 1 year low of $67.33 and a 1 year high of $100.93.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The financial services provider reported $2.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.13. MetLife had a return on equity of 23.39% and a net margin of 4.57%.The firm had revenue of $13.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.67 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.02 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.7 EPS for the current year.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

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

MetLife announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, August 5th that permits the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to buy up to 4.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s management 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.