Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Acquires 446 Shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 2.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 21,018 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 446 shares during the quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in MetLife were worth $1,475,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MET. Vanguard Group Inc. grew 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 acquiring an additional 1,974,268 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in MetLife during the 1st quarter worth approximately $131,456,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of MetLife by 7,837.0% in the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,129,353 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $79,250,000 after purchasing an additional 1,115,124 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of MetLife by 22.4% in the 2nd 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of MetLife by 29.7% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 2,120,275 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $157,133,000 after purchasing an additional 485,811 shares during the last quarter. 89.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MET has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of MetLife from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. StockNews.com lowered shares of MetLife from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of MetLife from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of MetLife in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $91.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of MetLife from $83.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, MetLife currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $84.54.

MetLife Stock Performance

MET opened at $81.09 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $74.51 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $72.54. MetLife, Inc. has a 1-year low of $57.91 and a 1-year high of $81.39. The company has a market cap of $57.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.87, a PEG ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 1.04.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $2.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.13 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $17.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.57 billion. MetLife had a net margin of 4.23% and a return on equity of 21.41%. The business’s revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.94 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that MetLife, Inc. will post 8.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 6th were issued a $0.545 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 6th. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.69%. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio is currently 74.91%.

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.