Private Advisor Group LLC Acquires 367 Shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Private Advisor Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 0.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 80,147 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 367 shares during the quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in MetLife were worth $6,562,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MET. PFG Investments LLC grew its stake in MetLife by 8.9% in the third quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 6,360 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $525,000 after purchasing an additional 520 shares in the last quarter. CX Institutional grew its stake in MetLife by 15.9% in the fourth quarter. CX Institutional now owns 68,005 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,568,000 after purchasing an additional 9,337 shares in the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new position in MetLife in the third quarter worth approximately $2,960,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in MetLife by 48,101.4% in the third quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 106,043 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,746,000 after purchasing an additional 105,823 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC bought a new position in MetLife in the third quarter worth approximately $1,074,000. Institutional investors own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MET. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on MetLife in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $97.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays dropped their price objective on MetLife from $96.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on MetLife from $92.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on MetLife from $86.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered MetLife from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $92.58.

MetLife Stock Performance

Shares of MET opened at $81.02 on Friday. MetLife, Inc. has a 12 month low of $67.30 and a 12 month high of $89.05. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $83.41 and a 200-day moving average price of $81.35. The company has a current ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The firm has a market cap of $56.10 billion, a PE ratio of 13.57, a P/E/G ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.07.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The financial services provider reported $2.08 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.13 by ($0.05). MetLife had a net margin of 6.19% and a return on equity of 20.42%. Equities research analysts predict that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 4th will be paid a $0.545 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 4th. This represents a $2.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.69%. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.52%.

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.