Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Has $119.83 Million Holdings in MetLife, Inc. $MET

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 12.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,489,989 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 161,392 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned 0.22% of MetLife worth $119,825,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MET. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in MetLife during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $336,965,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MetLife in the first quarter worth $312,946,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in MetLife by 7.4% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 26,488,146 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,126,734,000 after acquiring an additional 1,824,907 shares during the period. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. acquired a new position in MetLife during the 1st quarter valued at $68,030,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in MetLife by 85.0% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,321,881 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $104,270,000 after purchasing an additional 607,333 shares during the last quarter. 94.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MetLife Stock Up 0.7%

NYSE MET opened at $78.71 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $80.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $78.38. MetLife, Inc. has a one year low of $65.21 and a one year high of $89.05. The firm has a market cap of $52.34 billion, a PE ratio of 13.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.16 and a quick ratio of 0.16.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last issued its quarterly 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). The company 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 quarter last year, the company earned $2.28 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 9th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 4th will be issued a $0.5675 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 4th. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 38.47%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of MetLife in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. Wolfe Research raised MetLife to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 16th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on MetLife from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of MetLife in a research note on Saturday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of MetLife from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. One equities 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat, MetLife presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $95.18.

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.