Uncommon Cents Investing LLC Purchases 849 Shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Uncommon Cents Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 5.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,399 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 849 shares during the period. Uncommon Cents Investing LLC’s holdings in MetLife were worth $1,151,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. BlackRock Inc. boosted its holdings in MetLife by 1.1% in the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 55,059,523 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,112,515,000 after acquiring an additional 578,699 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in shares of MetLife by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 11,584,674 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $838,383,000 after acquiring an additional 418,477 shares in the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of MetLife by 118.1% in the third quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 10,108,992 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $635,957,000 after buying an additional 5,474,449 shares in the last quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. lifted its position in MetLife by 6.2% in the 1st quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 7,466,099 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $432,585,000 after acquiring an additional 436,260 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of MetLife by 3.9% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,440,583 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $468,087,000 after purchasing an additional 276,364 shares in the last quarter. 89.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MET has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on MetLife from $85.00 to $83.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of MetLife from $87.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded MetLife from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $70.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of MetLife from $79.00 to $77.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $77.23.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Bill Pappas sold 27,000 shares of MetLife stock in a transaction on Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.27, for a total value of $1,951,290.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 57,768 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,174,893.36. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, insider Ramy Tadros sold 4,026 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.90, for a total transaction of $289,469.40. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 146,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,567,933.90. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Bill Pappas sold 27,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.27, for a total value of $1,951,290.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 57,768 shares in the company, valued at $4,174,893.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.32% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

MetLife Price Performance

Shares of MetLife stock opened at $74.11 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $53.58 billion, a PE ratio of 40.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 1.03. MetLife, Inc. has a 12 month low of $48.95 and a 12 month high of $74.39. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $69.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $65.88. The company has a current ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The financial services provider reported $1.93 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.95 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $18.72 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.07 billion. MetLife had a net margin of 2.36% and a return on equity of 19.48%. Sell-side analysts forecast that MetLife, Inc. will post 8.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 6th were paid a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 5th. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 113.66%.

MetLife Profile

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.