Paragon Capital Management Ltd Grows Position in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Paragon Capital Management Ltd raised its position in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 27.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,835 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,054 shares during the quarter. Paragon Capital Management Ltd’s holdings in MetLife were worth $273,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Jones Financial Companies Lllp purchased a new position in shares of MetLife in the 1st quarter valued at $26,000. Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of MetLife during the first quarter valued at approximately $26,000. FWL Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in MetLife during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MetLife during the second quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Studio Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MetLife during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at MetLife

In related news, EVP Marlene Debel sold 9,391 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.18, for a total value of $593,323.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 77,638 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,905,168.84. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.32% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of MetLife in a research note on Thursday, August 17th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on MetLife from $78.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 18th. TheStreet raised shares of MetLife from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Thursday, August 10th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of MetLife from $70.00 to $74.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 4th. Finally, Argus raised their price target on shares of MetLife from $70.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 14th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, MetLife has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $76.40.

MetLife Stock Performance

NYSE MET traded down $0.28 on Friday, hitting $65.65. The stock had a trading volume of 7,686,155 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,900,529. MetLife, Inc. has a one year low of $48.95 and a one year high of $77.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 0.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The stock has a market cap of $49.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.54, a P/E/G ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 1.09. The company’s 50-day moving average is $62.30 and its two-hundred day moving average is $58.75.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 2nd. The financial services provider reported $1.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.09. MetLife had a return on equity of 17.42% and a net margin of 3.14%. The business had revenue of $16.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.91 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.00 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that MetLife, Inc. will post 7.78 earnings per share for the current year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 8th were paid a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 7th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.17%. MetLife’s payout ratio is 80.93%.

MetLife Profile

MetLife, Inc, a financial services company, provides insurance, annuities, employee benefits, and asset management services worldwide. It operates through five segments: U.S.; 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.