Ameriprise Financial Inc. Buys 259,993 Shares of MetLife, Inc. $MET

Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 3.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 7,406,512 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 259,993 shares during the quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. owned 1.10% of MetLife worth $594,410,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of MetLife by 4.8% during the first quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 422,684 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $33,937,000 after acquiring an additional 19,192 shares during the last quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management boosted its holdings in shares of MetLife by 52.1% during the 1st quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 9,355 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $751,000 after purchasing an additional 3,204 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc bought a new position in shares of MetLife during the 1st quarter valued at about $255,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of MetLife by 20.7% during the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 60,785 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,735,000 after purchasing an additional 10,414 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Heartland Bank & Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of MetLife in the first quarter worth about $516,000. Institutional investors own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MET has been the topic of a number of research reports. UBS Group reduced their price objective on MetLife from $94.00 to $91.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of MetLife from $100.00 to $103.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of MetLife from $86.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $97.00 price objective (up from $94.00) on shares of MetLife in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on MetLife from $98.00 to $94.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, MetLife currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $95.60.

MetLife Price Performance

Shares of MET stock opened at $79.1430 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $77.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $78.56. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $52.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.41, a P/E/G ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.85.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last issued its earnings results 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 business had revenue of $17.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.58 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.28 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current year.

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

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 9th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.5675 per share. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 5th. MetLife’s payout ratio is 38.47%.

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.