MAI Capital Management Raises Stake in MetLife, Inc. $MET

MAI Capital Management grew its holdings in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 41.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 67,574 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 19,897 shares during the quarter. MAI Capital Management’s holdings in MetLife were worth $5,566,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in MetLife by 13.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,749,521 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,333,418,000 after purchasing an additional 7,578,199 shares during the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of MetLife by 5.8% in the third quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 9,672,023 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $796,685,000 after buying an additional 527,388 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of MetLife in the second quarter worth about $756,104,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of MetLife by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,624,582 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $532,749,000 after acquiring an additional 162,041 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in MetLife by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,512,620 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $367,643,000 after acquiring an additional 86,519 shares during the period. 94.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

MetLife Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of MetLife stock opened at $75.92 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 0.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. MetLife, Inc. has a 12-month low of $65.21 and a 12-month high of $87.39. The company has a market cap of $49.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.15, a PEG ratio of 0.69 and a beta of 0.77. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $78.21 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $78.90.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.49 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.34 by $0.15. MetLife had a net margin of 4.38% and a return on equity of 21.81%. The firm had revenue of $52.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $31.43 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.08 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 27.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 EPS for the current year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.5675 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 3rd. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio is 48.30%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on MET shares. Weiss Ratings raised MetLife from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Barclays set a $90.00 price target on shares of MetLife in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Morgan Stanley set a $101.00 price target on shares of MetLife and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 15th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of MetLife from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Mizuho set a $100.00 target price on shares of MetLife in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, MetLife presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $94.91.

MetLife Company Profile

MetLife, Inc is a global provider of insurance, annuities and employee benefit programs. Headquartered in New York City, the company offers a range of risk protection and retirement solutions to individuals, employers and institutional clients. Its core businesses include life insurance, group benefits, retirement products such as annuities, and supplemental health products including dental and disability coverage.

In addition to traditional life and group insurance, MetLife provides workplace benefits and voluntary products distributed through employer-sponsored programs.