Monument Capital Management Acquires Shares of 3,727 MetLife, Inc. $MET

Monument Capital Management acquired a new stake in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 3,727 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $300,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of MetLife by 7.4% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 26,488,146 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,126,734,000 after buying an additional 1,824,907 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of MetLife by 0.4% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,862,835 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $711,597,000 after purchasing an additional 36,177 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of MetLife by 3.6% during the first quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,406,512 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $594,410,000 after purchasing an additional 259,993 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of MetLife by 0.8% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,109,423 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $570,816,000 after purchasing an additional 57,221 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of MetLife by 3.7% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,671,435 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $535,568,000 after purchasing an additional 236,698 shares during the period. 94.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MetLife Stock Down 2.6%

MET stock opened at $79.88 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.16 and a quick ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $53.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.54, a P/E/G ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 0.86. The business has a 50-day moving average of $79.68 and a 200-day moving average of $78.16. MetLife, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $65.21 and a fifty-two week high of $89.05.

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

MetLife Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 9th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 4th will be given a dividend of $0.5675 per share. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 4th. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio is currently 38.47%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on MET. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of MetLife in a research note on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on MetLife from $100.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Barclays boosted their target price on MetLife from $93.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on MetLife from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of MetLife in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $95.18.

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.