Silver Lake Advisory LLC Purchases 368 Shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Silver Lake Advisory LLC boosted its stake in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 0.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 74,701 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 368 shares during the period. MetLife makes up approximately 2.8% of Silver Lake Advisory LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 11th biggest holding. Silver Lake Advisory LLC’s holdings in MetLife were worth $4,940,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MET. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in MetLife by 678.4% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 287,311 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $19,000,000 after buying an additional 250,402 shares during the last quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd grew its holdings in MetLife by 19.2% during the fourth quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 1,824,596 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $120,661,000 after purchasing an additional 293,925 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in MetLife by 9.9% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,664,012 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $176,304,000 after buying an additional 240,564 shares during the period. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH lifted its position in shares of MetLife by 13.1% in the fourth quarter. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH now owns 742,302 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $49,088,000 after buying an additional 86,091 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of MetLife by 50.0% during the 3rd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 8,856 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $557,000 after acquiring an additional 2,952 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.81% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at MetLife

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

MetLife Stock Down 4.5 %

Shares of MetLife stock traded down $3.21 on Thursday, hitting $68.67. The company had a trading volume of 2,871,980 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,524,893. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a current ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $48.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.27, a P/E/G ratio of 0.53 and a beta of 1.03. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $71.61 and a 200-day moving average of $67.38. MetLife, Inc. has a 1 year low of $48.95 and a 1 year high of $74.68.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The financial services provider reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83. The company had revenue of $17.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.73 billion. MetLife had a net margin of 2.36% and a return on equity of 19.48%. The firm’s revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.52 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that MetLife, Inc. will post 8.71 earnings per share for the current year.

MetLife Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 7th will be given a $0.545 dividend. This is an increase from MetLife’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.17%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 6th. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 113.66%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on MET. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of MetLife from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $70.00 to $80.00 in a report on Monday, January 8th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on MetLife from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on MetLife from $74.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on MetLife from $82.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target on MetLife from $87.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $79.23.

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.