Advisors Asset Management Inc. Buys 367 Shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 0.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 90,427 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 367 shares during the quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in MetLife were worth $7,404,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. PDS Planning Inc acquired a new position in shares of MetLife during the 4th quarter worth about $201,000. Mystic Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in MetLife during the fourth quarter worth approximately $988,000. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in MetLife by 11.3% in the fourth quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 21,474 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,758,000 after buying an additional 2,178 shares during the period. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in shares of MetLife by 9.1% in the fourth quarter. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. now owns 25,588 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,095,000 after buying an additional 2,125 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of MetLife by 94.1% during the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 14,188 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,162,000 after acquiring an additional 6,877 shares during the period. 94.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MET. Barclays dropped their price target on MetLife from $96.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of MetLife from $101.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of MetLife from $97.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of MetLife in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, StockNews.com cut MetLife from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $94.58.

MetLife Price Performance

MetLife stock opened at $81.58 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $55.58 billion, a PE ratio of 13.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.16 and a quick ratio of 0.16. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $83.44 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $82.56. MetLife, Inc. has a one year low of $67.30 and a one year high of $89.05.

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

MetLife Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 4th were issued a dividend of $0.545 per share. This represents a $2.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 4th. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.52%.

About MetLife

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.