Fortitude Family Office LLC Has $37,000 Holdings in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Fortitude Family Office LLC lessened its stake in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 27.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 456 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 169 shares during the period. Fortitude Family Office LLC’s holdings in MetLife were worth $37,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MET. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in MetLife during the 4th quarter worth about $730,716,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in MetLife by 33.7% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 24,663,239 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,019,427,000 after buying an additional 6,213,923 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in MetLife by 109.2% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,826,658 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $722,727,000 after buying an additional 4,606,748 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of MetLife by 43.7% in the 4th quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 5,663,177 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $463,701,000 after purchasing an additional 1,723,461 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of MetLife by 15.7% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,052,202 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $577,434,000 after purchasing an additional 958,458 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on MET. UBS Group upped their target price on MetLife from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Wall Street Zen downgraded MetLife from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 24th. Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of MetLife in a report on Friday, March 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on MetLife from $98.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on MetLife from $91.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $94.17.

MetLife Trading Up 0.1%

NYSE:MET opened at $78.98 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $76.56 and its 200 day moving average price is $80.70. MetLife, Inc. has a 52 week low of $65.21 and a 52 week high of $89.05. The company has a market capitalization of $53.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.23, a P/E/G ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a current ratio of 0.16.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.96 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.00 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $18.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.06 billion. MetLife had a return on equity of 20.42% and a net margin of 6.19%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.83 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 6th were given a dividend of $0.5675 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 6th. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.87%. This is a boost from MetLife’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.91%.

MetLife announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, April 30th that authorizes the company to buyback $3.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to reacquire up to 5.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

MetLife Company 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.