In the midst of a wildly oscillating market, the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, one of the oldest and best-known insurers, issued nearly 500 million shares to more than nine million policyholders yesterday, instantly making the company's shares by far the most widely held in America.
The company sold an additional 202 million shares to investors at an initial price of $14.25. The shares finished the day up nearly 8 percent, at $15.375.
While a few policyholders -- the formal owners of MetLife, which had been a mutual company that functioned much like a cooperative -- had earlier questioned whether the assets of the company would be fairly distributed in the conversion to public ownership, many seemed delighted yesterday with the shares they received.
''This is like found money for me,'' said Paolo Capoferri, who runs a small Italian food importing business in Bridgewater, N.J.
Like the other policyholders, Mr. Capoferri had originally gone to MetLife strictly to buy insurance. Whatever the technicalities, he never thought of himself as an owner. ''It never crossed my mind that I might get some stock out of this,'' he said, after receiving 206 shares of MetLife yesterday.
As MetLife made the transformation to public ownership, it soared ahead of Lucent Technologies as the company with the largest number of stockholders, many of them concentrated in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. With 4.6 million shareholders, Lucent had taken the lead from its former parent, AT&T, which now has 4.1 million shareholders and, until last August, had for decades been the company with the most shareholders.
Even with all its shareholders though, MetLife came out far behind Lucent in market value. With 695.9 million shares outstanding, MetLife had a market value of about $11.7 billion, about one-twentieth of Lucent's market value of $199 billion and about one-fiftieth that of General Electric, Cisco Systems and Microsoft.
Shares of insurance stocks have been depressed in general, as have those of most banks and brokerage firms. MetLife cut back the number of shares it sold to the general public to 202 million, down from an original 255 million, because of market conditions. And analysts said its opening price represented only about 75 percent of its book value, less than other insurers received as they recently went public.
Yet there was no sign of concern among MetLife policyholders.
For his part, Mr. Capoferri planned to buy more Me Life shares. ''I buy stocks and mutual funds with the long term in mind,'' he said.
Jerry Gabriele, who runs the Gabriele Tire and Auto Centers in Scotch Plains and South Amboy, N.J., received 405 shares of MetLife stock. And he plans to hold on to them, too, along with the 400 shares of Merck that he has accumulated over the years.
''I don't even think about my Merck shares,'' he said. ''My buddies are always telling me to buy this stock and that crazy stock. I dabbled in them and they were all losers. But something like Met, I believe in the company. I'll probably hold onto them.''
Under its conversion plan, MetLife could have postponed its public offering for at least a year, hoping for better market conditions. But soon after ringing the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange yesterday morning, as the chief executive of the newest member, Robert H. Benmosche said in an interview that he wanted to move now to make sure ''we have the maximum flexibility when the opportunity presents itself'' to raise more capital and make acquisitions.
Michael Frinquelli, a partner at Renaissance Fund Advisers, an investment company that specializes in insurance, bought more than 50,000 shares of MetLife, impressed during the MetLife road show that it had a realistic plan for growth and that it planned to remain focused on middle-class customers while many competitors were shooting for wealthier people.
Some critics of the MetLife conversion have complained about the potential for executives to gain great wealth through stock options. Not Mr. Gabriele. ''This is America,'' he said. ''I believe in the free enterprise system. If the executives of MetLife turn this stock from a $14 stock to a $50 stock, they deserve everything they get. If the performance of the stock is motivation for them to perform, what's wrong with that?''
Some policyholders said they liked MetLife stock for the very reason it was ignored by many investors who have been chasing Internet issues: It is likely to be a steady, but not spectacular grower. ''I like to sleep at night,'' said Mr. Capoferri, ''and MetLife at $14 a share is going to let me get my sleep.''
Photos: Paolo Capoferri, above, an Italian food importer, and Jerry Gabriele, an auto shop owner, are MetLife policyholders who received shares. (Nancy Wegard for The New York Times)
