MetLife (MET) Stock Buybacks: 43.4% of Shares Retired Since 2013

Name: MetLife (MET) shares outstanding since 2001, split adjusted
Creator: Buyback Radar
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Shares outstanding, 2001 to todaysplit adjusted, from SEC filings

2001, 708,598,1522026-07-31, 635,476,927

A share bought in 2001

1.1× more of MetLife today, without buying another share. It was one of 708,598,152 shares then. It is one of 635,476,927 now.

Every filing we read25 fiscal years, split adjusted

Fiscal year	Date	Shares outstanding	Filing
2001	2002-03-08	708,598,152	10-K405	cover page
2002	2003-03-07	700,278,412	10-K	cover page
2003	2004-03-01	755,809,398	10-K	cover page
2004	2005-03-01	732,924,389	10-K	cover page
2005	2006-02-24	757,959,631	10-K	cover page
2006	2007-02-26	752,669,068	10-K	cover page
2007	2008-02-25	709,166,807	10-K	cover page
2008	2008-12-31	793,629,070	10-K
2009	2010-02-22	819,117,546	10-K
2010	2011-02-18	986,585,463	10-K
2011	2012-02-21	1,060,330,384	10-K
2012	2013-02-19	1,093,590,305	10-K
2013	2014-02-19	1,123,537,362	10-K
2014	2015-02-23	1,117,440,997	10-K
2015	2016-02-22	1,096,666,865	10-K
2016	2017-02-23	1,087,256,971	10-K
2017	2018-02-16	1,036,642,696	10-K
2018	2019-02-14	957,270,842	10-K
2019	2020-02-14	915,828,071	10-K
2020	2021-02-12	884,399,222	10-K
2021	2022-02-11	825,078,244	10-K
2022	2023-02-14	774,362,092	10-K
2023	2024-02-08	723,020,313	10-K
2024	2025-02-13	681,228,028	10-K
2025	2026-02-12	652,053,867	10-K

Source: all 10-K filings of MetLife on EDGAR. Download this series as CSV. Licence CC BY 4.0, credit Buyback Radar.

What the buybacks cost, since fiscal 2014cash flow statement against share count

$30.5Bspent on buybacks

488Mfewer shares outstanding

$57average price paid per share bought back

4.5%buyback yield, last fiscal year’s spend on today’s market value

Cash spent comes from the cash flow statement. Shares outstanding fell by less than the company bought, because part of every buyback only replaces shares handed to employees. Today’s price is $100.27.

MetLife buybacks, answered

Is MetLife buying back its stock?

Yes. MetLife has 3.6% fewer shares outstanding than twelve months ago, 635,476,927 as of July 31, 2026. Over five years the share count is down 24.5%.

How many shares has MetLife bought back?

Net of every new share it issued, MetLife has 488.1 million fewer shares than at its 2013 peak. That is 43.4% of the company. Since fiscal 2014 alone it bought back about 537.0 million shares, while the count fell by 482.0 million. The difference went to employees and other new shares.

How many shares does MetLife have outstanding?

635,476,927 shares, as of July 31, 2026, from the cover page of its latest 10-Q. At the 2013 peak it had 1,123,537,362.

What do MetLife's buybacks mean for a shareholder?

Each share is a bigger slice of the company. Someone who held MetLife stock in 2013 owns 1.8 times as much of the business today without buying another share. Whether that was a good use of cash depends on the price paid.

How does MetLife compare with other cannibal stocks?

MetLife ranks No. 43 of 65 companies on Buyback Radar by share of the company retired since its peak. Close to it on the list: RCM Technologies (46.0%), MGIC Investment (44.7%), InterDigital (43.1%), Booking Holdings (42.4%).

Every answer is computed from MetLife's own SEC filings and rebuilt every Monday. Latest count: 10-Q on EDGAR.

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