California Public Employees Retirement System Acquires 69,772 Shares of MetLife, Inc. $MET

California Public Employees Retirement System increased its stake in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 7.1% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,059,068 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 69,772 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned about 0.16% of MetLife worth $85,170,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quaker Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in MetLife by 198.2% in the second quarter. Quaker Wealth Management LLC now owns 333 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 672 shares in the last quarter. MTM Investment Management LLC bought a new position in MetLife in the 2nd quarter valued at about $37,000. GFG Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of MetLife in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Abound Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of MetLife by 652.3% during the 2nd quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 489 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 424 shares during the period. Finally, Legend Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of MetLife during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $40,000. 94.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on MET. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of MetLife from $96.00 to $92.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Piper Sandler lowered MetLife from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $84.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Friday, September 19th. Barclays upped their price objective on MetLife from $93.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on MetLife from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of MetLife to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MetLife has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $94.60.

MetLife Stock Performance

NYSE:MET opened at $78.07 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $78.59 and its 200-day moving average is $78.69. MetLife, Inc. has a 1-year low of $65.21 and a 1-year high of $88.09. The company has a current ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 0.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The stock has a market cap of $51.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 0.76.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The financial services provider reported $2.37 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.07. MetLife had a net margin of 5.30% and a return on equity of 21.00%. The business had revenue of $12.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.64 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.95 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 9th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 4th will be paid a $0.5675 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 4th. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. MetLife’s payout ratio is currently 42.75%.

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.