FORVIS Wealth Advisors LLC Purchases 535 Shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

FORVIS Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 2.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 20,904 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 535 shares during the period. FORVIS Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in MetLife were worth $1,549,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Tempus Wealth Planning LLC grew its position in MetLife by 5.0% in the 1st quarter. Tempus Wealth Planning LLC now owns 3,614 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $268,000 after acquiring an additional 171 shares during the last quarter. RBA Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in MetLife by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. RBA Wealth Management LLC now owns 76,349 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,658,000 after buying an additional 1,307 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. lifted its holdings in MetLife by 8.2% during the 1st quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 19,162 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,420,000 after buying an additional 1,453 shares in the last quarter. Advisor Resource Council purchased a new position in shares of MetLife during the first quarter worth approximately $288,000. Finally, Norden Group LLC raised its stake in shares of MetLife by 3,946.1% during the first quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 129,840 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,623,000 after acquiring an additional 126,631 shares in the last quarter. 89.81% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on MET shares. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on MetLife from $88.00 to $83.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Argus upped their price objective on shares of MetLife from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on shares of MetLife from $87.00 to $86.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 7th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on MetLife from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on MetLife from $86.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $80.23.

MetLife Stock Performance

NYSE:MET traded down $0.26 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $69.90. 78,866 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,359,915. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.16 and a quick ratio of 0.16. MetLife, Inc. has a 52-week low of $56.17 and a 52-week high of $74.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $49.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.11, a PEG ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 1.11. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $71.14 and its 200-day moving average price is $70.20.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The financial services provider reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.83. The business had revenue of $17.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.73 billion. MetLife had a return on equity of 20.39% and a net margin of 3.50%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.52 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that MetLife, Inc. will post 8.61 earnings per share for the current year.

MetLife Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 7th were given a dividend of $0.545 per share. This is a boost from MetLife’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.12%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 6th. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 74.91%.

MetLife declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, May 1st that allows the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to reacquire up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.