Forsta AP Fonden Increases Stake in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Forsta AP Fonden raised its stake in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 10.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 198,700 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 18,800 shares during the quarter. Forsta AP Fonden’s holdings in MetLife were worth $16,389,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MET. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of MetLife by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,622,348 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,418,612,000 after acquiring an additional 1,974,268 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of MetLife during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $131,456,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of MetLife by 7,837.0% during the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,129,353 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $79,250,000 after acquiring an additional 1,115,124 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of MetLife by 22.4% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,396,274 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $378,799,000 after acquiring an additional 988,666 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of MetLife by 29.7% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 2,120,275 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $157,133,000 after acquiring an additional 485,811 shares during the last quarter. 89.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on MetLife from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Piper Sandler raised their price target on MetLife from $85.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. TD Cowen began coverage on MetLife in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $97.00 price target for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on MetLife from $86.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 8th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on MetLife from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $88.46.

MetLife Stock Performance

MET stock opened at $82.39 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $79.81 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $74.50. MetLife, Inc. has a twelve month low of $57.91 and a twelve month high of $86.94. The firm has a market cap of $58.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.31, a PEG ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.04.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $2.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.13 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $17.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.57 billion. MetLife had a return on equity of 21.41% and a net margin of 4.23%. The business’s revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.94 earnings per share. Analysts predict that MetLife, Inc. will post 8.58 earnings per share for the current year.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.545 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 5th. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.65%. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio is currently 74.91%.

About MetLife

MetLife, Inc, a financial services company, provides insurance, annuities, employee benefits, and asset management services worldwide. It operates through six segments: Retirement and Income Solutions; Group Benefits; Asia; Latin America; Europe, the Middle East and Africa; and MetLife Holdings. The company offers life, dental, group short-and long-term disability, individual disability, pet insurance, accidental death and dismemberment, vision, and accident and health coverages, as well as prepaid legal plans; administrative services-only arrangements to employers; and general and separate account, and synthetic guaranteed interest contracts, as well as private floating rate funding agreements.