Sonora Investment Management Group LLC Purchases 174 Shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Sonora Investment Management Group LLC boosted its position in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 3.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,607 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 174 shares during the period. Sonora Investment Management Group LLC’s holdings in MetLife were worth $450,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of MetLife by 109.2% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,826,658 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $722,727,000 after buying an additional 4,606,748 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of MetLife by 27.3% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 13,692 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,116,000 after buying an additional 2,940 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its holdings in shares of MetLife by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 776,244 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $63,559,000 after buying an additional 12,723 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in shares of MetLife by 7.1% during the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 435,847 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $35,687,000 after buying an additional 28,848 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of MetLife by 56.0% during the fourth quarter. Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 38,139 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,123,000 after buying an additional 13,690 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

MetLife Stock Performance

Shares of MET stock opened at $79.47 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $53.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.31, a P/E/G ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a current ratio of 0.16. MetLife, Inc. has a 52 week low of $65.21 and a 52 week high of $89.05. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $76.16 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $80.77.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.96 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.00 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $18.57 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.06 billion. MetLife had a return on equity of 20.42% and a net margin of 6.19%. The business’s revenue was up 15.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.83 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current year.

MetLife announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, April 30th that allows the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to buy up to 5.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

MetLife Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 6th were given a $0.5675 dividend. This is a positive change from MetLife’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 6th. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.86%. MetLife’s payout ratio is currently 36.91%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MET has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of MetLife from $95.00 to $88.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of MetLife from $88.00 to $86.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of MetLife from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of MetLife from $94.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, May 19th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of MetLife from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $94.17.

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.