Syon Capital LLC Raises Stock Position in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Syon Capital LLC increased its stake in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 82.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 8,849 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,986 shares during the period. Syon Capital LLC’s holdings in MetLife were worth $585,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MET. Eley Financial Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of MetLife by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Eley Financial Management Inc now owns 16,348 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,028,000 after acquiring an additional 168 shares during the last quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of MetLife by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC now owns 4,367 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $289,000 after acquiring an additional 170 shares during the last quarter. KLCM Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of MetLife by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. KLCM Advisors Inc. now owns 4,920 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $310,000 after acquiring an additional 171 shares during the last quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of MetLife by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC now owns 61,738 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,083,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. Finally, RFG Advisory LLC boosted its stake in shares of MetLife by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 5,924 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $392,000 after acquiring an additional 181 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.81% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Bill Pappas sold 27,000 shares of MetLife stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.27, for a total transaction of $1,951,290.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 57,768 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,174,893.36. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other MetLife news, insider Ramy Tadros sold 4,026 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.90, for a total value of $289,469.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 146,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,567,933.90. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Bill Pappas sold 27,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.27, for a total transaction of $1,951,290.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 57,768 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,174,893.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.32% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on MET shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of MetLife from $83.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of MetLife from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $70.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Monday, January 8th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of MetLife from $87.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of MetLife from $74.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of MetLife from $82.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $79.23.

MetLife Price Performance

Shares of MetLife stock traded down $1.48 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $70.42. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,197,762 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,527,846. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $71.41 and a 200-day moving average price of $67.09. MetLife, Inc. has a one year low of $48.95 and a one year high of $74.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.16 and a quick ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market cap of $50.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.29, a P/E/G ratio of 0.55 and a beta of 1.04.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The financial services provider reported $1.93 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.95 by ($0.02). MetLife had a return on equity of 19.48% and a net margin of 2.36%. The business had revenue of $18.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.07 billion. On average, analysts predict that MetLife, Inc. will post 8.71 EPS for the current year.

MetLife Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.545 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 6th. This is a boost from MetLife’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.10%. MetLife’s payout ratio is currently 113.66%.

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.