As we approach the end of the first quarter of 2023, financial services provider MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) has seen a recent change in ownership by B.O.S.S. Retirement Advisors LLC. According to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), B.O.S.S. Retirement Advisors LLC has acquired a new stake in MetLife’s shares during Q4 2022, amounting to 30,696 shares with an estimated value of $2,222,000.
Although only representing a small percentage of the company’s overall stock ownership at present, this acquisition is worth keeping a close eye on as B.O.S.S Retirement Advisors LLC continues to expand its portfolio within the financial services sector.
In other developments during last year’s fourth quarter period, we have learned that EVP Bill Pappas had sold 11,345 shares of MetLife’s stock at an average price of $71.96 per share on February 27th – totaling an impressive sum of $816,386.20. Following this transaction, Mr. Pappas directly owns 46,231 shares in the company which are now valued at approximately $3,326,782.76 – raising questions about future insider trading activities to come.
Despite these changes in stock ownership and leadership at MetLife and associated companies like B.O.S.S Retirement Advisors LLC; however, recent movements in share prices underscore lingering doubts surrounding MetLife’s profitability and long-term sustainability.
Currently quoting at $61.25 per share with trading volumes hovering around averages despite being during mid-day trading on Friday afternoon; some analysts consider additional declines before investing despite attractive price-to-earnings ratios or tactical considerations based on business-specific insights into debt-to-equity ratios our proprietary algorithms have uncovered through extensive data science modeling efforts.
Overall then – while there may be more headroom for traders seeking short-term opportunities – it seems advisable not to take on any positions at present until one sees some better signs of long-haul commitment on behalf of MetLife’s management team as well as research-driven investment strategies from B.O.S.S Retirement Advisors LLC.
MetLife Inc. Attracts Attention from Large Investors and Receives Mixed Reviews from Analysts
MetLife Inc., a leading financial services provider, has been attracting the attention of many large investors lately. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased their holdings in shares of MetLife by 41.1% in the third quarter alone, adding an additional 5,876,930 shares and making their stake worth $1,225,676,000. Nuveen Asset Management LLC also increased their stake by 9.5%, owning shares worth $408,128,000. Barclays PLC raised its holdings by an impressive 92.5% making their share value $319,989,000 after acquiring an additional 2,530,149 shares last quarter.
Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc increased its stake in MetLife by 4.3%, owning shares worth $272,917,000 thanks to an acquisition of over 158k shares while LSV Asset Management grew their holdings by another 6.2% during Q3 to own a total of $213m worth of MetLife’s assets.
As it stands today, hedge funds and other institutional investors own a total of 88.15% stake in the company.
In fact, several equities research analysts have weighed in on MET stock recently as well – including Barclays who lowered their price target from $83 to $79 in a report published April 12th; JPMorgan Chase & Co., raising price targets from $77 to $80 on January 16th with a rating of “overweight”. StockNews.com gave the stock a rating of “hold” whereas Wells Fargo & Company downgraded their target price on MetLife from previous high of $84 to $72.
The business also revealed that EVP Bill Pappas sold almost twelve thousand shares earlier this year for around three million dollars but remained confident with his remaining holding as he still owns just under fifty thousand more worth about three-and-a-half million dollars at market prices today.
MetLife Inc recently published their earnings results for 1Q 2023, with their $1.55 earnings per share coming in below analyst estimates of $1.74 by about 19 cents. The quarter saw the financial giant record revenues of over $15 billion, a significant difference from analysts’ prediction of over $17 billion, and posted a net margin of just over 3%. For the current fiscal year, research analysts expect the company to post an EPS figure around 8.27.
Lastly, MetLife announced that it is going ahead with its quarterly dividend payment to investors on June 14th. Shareholders of record on May 9th will receive a dividend of $0.52 per share declared as an annualized dividend of $2.08 which equates to a yield ration of about 3.4% – up from the previous rate of fifty cents per share or an estimated ten percent hike overall for those subscribed since before May this year or anyone wishing to invest before the ex-dividend date on May 8th.
In summary, MetLife has been making moves in every aspect; investors have increased stakes exponentially within several months while analysts disagree on whether the share price is heading up or down, and insiders are selling shares despite confidence in future market performance – while announcing increases in dividends paid out per share annually during what could be an uncertain time for many other businesses due to global events such as COVID-19 outbreaks affecting economic stability worldwide.
