Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Raises Stake in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its position in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 37.1% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 848,307 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 229,657 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board owned 0.12% of MetLife worth $59,543,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in MetLife by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,622,348 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,418,612,000 after buying an additional 1,974,268 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in MetLife by 22.4% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,396,274 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $378,799,000 after purchasing an additional 988,666 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in MetLife by 3.2% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,224,930 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $226,358,000 after purchasing an additional 100,782 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in MetLife by 4.1% during the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,772,751 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $205,544,000 after purchasing an additional 108,739 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of MetLife by 29.7% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 2,120,275 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $157,133,000 after buying an additional 485,811 shares during the last quarter. 89.81% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MetLife Trading Down 0.3 %

NYSE MET opened at $80.85 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $57.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.78, a P/E/G ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 1.04. MetLife, Inc. has a 52-week low of $57.91 and a 52-week high of $81.39. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $74.66 and a 200 day moving average price of $72.63.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $2.28 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.13 by $0.15. MetLife had a return on equity of 21.41% and a net margin of 4.23%. The business had revenue of $17.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.57 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.94 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that MetLife, Inc. will post 8.67 EPS for the current year.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 6th were paid a dividend of $0.545 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 6th. This represents a $2.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.70%. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 74.91%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of MetLife from $83.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. StockNews.com downgraded MetLife from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on MetLife from $86.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 8th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on MetLife from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of MetLife from $86.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $84.54.

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.