Royal London Asset Management Ltd. Reduces Position in MetLife, Inc. $MET

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. trimmed its position in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 238,114 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 6,972 shares during the quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in MetLife were worth $20,147,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in MetLife in the 2nd quarter worth $4,381,692,000. Pzena Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of MetLife in the second quarter valued at about $941,792,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of MetLife during the fourth quarter valued at about $639,986,000. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new stake in shares of MetLife during the second quarter worth about $455,424,000. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in shares of MetLife in the second quarter worth about $326,904,000. 94.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

MetLife Stock Up 0.1%

MET stock opened at $96.57 on Monday. MetLife, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $67.33 and a fifty-two week high of $100.93. The company has a market capitalization of $62.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 0.78. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $93.39 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $82.88. 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 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. The company had revenue of $13.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.67 billion. MetLife had a return on equity of 23.39% and a net margin of 4.57%.The firm’s revenue was up 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.02 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MetLife announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, August 5th that allows the company to buyback $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to buy up to 4.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 8th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 4th will be issued 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 payout ratio is 45.40%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MET has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their price target on MetLife from $102.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on 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 target price on MetLife from $95.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Wall Street Zen raised MetLife from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 22nd. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of MetLife from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. One 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $102.21.

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.