Freemont Management S.A. Purchases 7,200 Shares of MetLife, Inc. $MET

Freemont Management S.A. grew its holdings in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 30.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 30,800 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,200 shares during the quarter. Freemont Management S.A.’s holdings in MetLife were worth $2,477,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MET. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in shares of MetLife by 9.0% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 4,240 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $347,000 after purchasing an additional 351 shares during the period. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in MetLife by 27.2% in the first quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,962 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $720,000 after purchasing an additional 1,916 shares during the last quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in MetLife by 15.5% in the first quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 24,800 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,991,000 after purchasing an additional 3,326 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its stake in MetLife by 18.5% in the first quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 83,444 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,700,000 after buying an additional 13,037 shares during the period. Finally, Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its holdings in MetLife by 32.1% during the first quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 14,207 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,141,000 after buying an additional 3,449 shares during the last quarter. 94.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

MetLife Trading Up 0.2%

NYSE MET opened at $76.11 on Friday. MetLife, Inc. has a 52 week low of $65.21 and a 52 week high of $89.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a current ratio of 0.16. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $80.04 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $78.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $50.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.90, a PEG ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 0.87.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The financial services provider reported $2.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $12.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.64 billion. MetLife had a net margin of 5.83% and a return on equity of 19.88%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.95 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 9th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 4th will be given a dividend of $0.5675 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 4th. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. MetLife’s payout ratio is 42.75%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MET. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on MetLife from $96.00 to $92.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on shares of MetLife from $94.00 to $92.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Wolfe Research raised shares of MetLife to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 16th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of MetLife in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on MetLife from $96.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, MetLife presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $95.18.

MetLife Company 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.