Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Acquires Shares of 37,600 MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 37,600 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,486,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MET. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of MetLife in the 4th quarter worth approximately $444,205,000. Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of MetLife by 118.1% in the 3rd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 10,108,992 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $635,957,000 after acquiring an additional 5,474,449 shares in the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of MetLife in the 4th quarter worth approximately $234,761,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its holdings in shares of MetLife by 806.2% in the 3rd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 1,607,195 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $100,152,000 after acquiring an additional 1,429,840 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ensign Peak Advisors Inc boosted its holdings in shares of MetLife by 309.7% in the 1st quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc now owns 1,364,265 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $95,881,000 after acquiring an additional 1,031,277 shares in the last quarter. 89.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on MET. The Goldman Sachs Group raised MetLife from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $70.00 to $80.00 in a report on Monday, January 8th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on MetLife from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on MetLife from $74.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on MetLife from $83.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of MetLife from $87.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued 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 target price of $79.23.

MetLife Price Performance

MET opened at $68.93 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. MetLife, Inc. has a 12 month low of $48.95 and a 12 month high of $74.68. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $70.95 and a 200 day simple moving average of $66.66. The stock has a market cap of $49.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.67, a P/E/G ratio of 0.52 and a beta of 1.04.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 31st. The financial services provider reported $1.93 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 firm had revenue of $18.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.07 billion. On average, research analysts expect that MetLife, Inc. will post 8.71 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other MetLife news, EVP Bill Pappas sold 27,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 18th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $4,174,893.36. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other MetLife news, insider Ramy Tadros sold 4,026 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 146,981 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,567,933.90. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Bill Pappas sold 27,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.27, for a total value of $1,951,290.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 57,768 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,174,893.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

MetLife 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.