Freestone Capital Holdings LLC Invests $467,000 in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Freestone Capital Holdings LLC acquired a new position in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 6,306 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $467,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. CreativeOne Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of MetLife by 74.2% during the first quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 5,804 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $430,000 after purchasing an additional 2,472 shares during the last quarter. Delap Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in MetLife in the first quarter valued at $206,000. Payden & Rygel Investment Group acquired a new position in MetLife in the first quarter valued at $21,907,000. Ossiam boosted its holdings in MetLife by 363.7% in the first quarter. Ossiam now owns 143,492 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $10,634,000 after acquiring an additional 112,550 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Natixis acquired a new position in MetLife in the first quarter valued at $224,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.81% of the company’s stock.

MetLife Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:MET traded up $0.68 during trading on Friday, hitting $76.00. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,335,162 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,321,235. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a current ratio of 0.16. MetLife, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $57.91 and a fifty-two week high of $76.90. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $71.65 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $70.95. The company has a market capitalization of $54.05 billion, a PE ratio of 26.07, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.11.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The financial services provider reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.83. MetLife had a return on equity of 20.39% and a net margin of 3.50%. The firm had revenue of $17.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.73 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.52 earnings per share. MetLife’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that MetLife, Inc. will post 8.59 EPS for the current year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 6th will be given a dividend of $0.545 per share. This represents a $2.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 6th. MetLife’s payout ratio is 74.91%.

MetLife announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, May 1st that authorizes the company to buyback $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to purchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MET has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup lifted their target price on MetLife from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on MetLife from $82.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. StockNews.com cut MetLife from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 1st. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on MetLife from $85.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 6th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on MetLife from $83.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Two research 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 company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.08.

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.