Invesco Ltd. Purchases 87,344 Shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 1.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,462,541 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 87,344 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd.’s holdings in MetLife were worth $518,877,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of MetLife by 33.7% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 24,663,239 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,019,427,000 after purchasing an additional 6,213,923 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of MetLife by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,862,835 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $711,597,000 after purchasing an additional 36,177 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake 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. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of MetLife by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,434,737 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $526,869,000 after purchasing an additional 290,734 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in shares of MetLife by 12.4% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,113,108 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $418,661,000 after purchasing an additional 564,383 shares during the period. 94.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MET. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on MetLife from $86.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Barclays boosted their target price on MetLife from $88.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 7th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $98.00 target price (down from $99.00) on shares of MetLife in a report on Monday, July 14th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $97.00 target price (up from $94.00) on shares of MetLife in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their target price on MetLife from $94.00 to $91.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $95.40.

MetLife Stock Up 3.3%

NYSE:MET opened at $76.25 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $78.09 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $78.99. MetLife, Inc. has a 52-week low of $65.21 and a 52-week high of $89.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a current ratio of 0.16. The company has a market cap of $51.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.92, a P/E/G ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 0.85.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.32 by ($0.30). MetLife had a return on equity of 19.88% and a net margin of 5.83%. The firm had revenue of $17.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.58 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.28 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 EPS for the current year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 9th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 5th will be given a dividend of $0.5675 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 5th. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. MetLife’s payout ratio is presently 38.47%.

MetLife announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, April 30th that allows the company to buyback $3.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to reacquire up to 5.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.