Convergence Investment Partners LLC Purchases 553 Shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Convergence Investment Partners LLC raised its position in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 3.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 16,774 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 553 shares during the quarter. Convergence Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in MetLife were worth $1,109,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MET. Principle Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of MetLife during the fourth quarter valued at about $207,000. Intact Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of MetLife by 25.7% during the fourth quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,800 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $582,000 after buying an additional 1,800 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its position in shares of MetLife by 7.7% during the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 848,196 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $56,101,000 after buying an additional 60,364 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC raised its position in shares of MetLife by 272.8% during the fourth quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 2,114 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $140,000 after buying an additional 1,547 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kovack Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of MetLife by 31.4% during the fourth quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. now owns 4,199 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $278,000 after buying an additional 1,003 shares during the last quarter. 89.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at MetLife

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

MetLife Price Performance

Shares of MET traded down $1.48 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $70.42. 5,650,572 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,506,510. MetLife, Inc. has a one year low of $48.95 and a one year high of $74.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $50.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.48, a PEG ratio of 0.53 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a current ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The business has a 50-day moving average of $71.44 and a 200 day moving average of $67.19.

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

MetLife Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 7th will be paid a $0.545 dividend. 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 yield of 3.10%. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 113.66%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

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.