9,559 Shares in MetLife, Inc. $MET Bought by Csenge Advisory Group

Csenge Advisory Group bought a new position in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 9,559 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $809,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Activest Wealth Management boosted its position in shares of MetLife by 205.8% during the 4th quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 315 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 212 shares during the last quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of MetLife during the second quarter worth about $26,000. Garton & Associates Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of MetLife in the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. Gunpowder Capital Management LLC dba Oliver Wealth Management purchased a new stake in MetLife in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Prosperity Bancshares Inc bought a new stake in MetLife during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. 94.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on MET. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of MetLife from $95.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Atlantic Securities set a $103.00 price objective on shares of MetLife in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of MetLife from $101.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of MetLife from $106.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their target price on MetLife from $86.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $101.64.

MetLife Stock Down 1.7%

Shares of MET opened at $95.12 on Thursday. MetLife, Inc. has a 1 year low of $67.33 and a 1 year high of $100.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.20 and a quick ratio of 0.20. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $92.17 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $81.98. The firm has a market cap of $61.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.22, a P/E/G ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 0.78.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The financial services provider reported $2.43 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $13.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.67 billion. MetLife had a net margin of 4.57% and a return on equity of 23.39%. The business’s revenue was up 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.02 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MetLife announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, August 5th that allows the company to buyback $3.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to repurchase up to 4.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 8th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 4th will be given a $0.5925 dividend. This represents a $2.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 4th. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.40%.

MetLife Profile

MetLife, Inc is a global provider of insurance, annuities and employee benefit programs. Headquartered in New York City, the company offers a range of risk protection and retirement solutions to individuals, employers and institutional clients. Its core businesses include life insurance, group benefits, retirement products such as annuities, and supplemental health products including dental and disability coverage.

In addition to traditional life and group insurance, MetLife provides workplace benefits and voluntary products distributed through employer-sponsored programs.