Allworth Financial LP Raises Position in MetLife, Inc. $MET

Allworth Financial LP raised its holdings in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 13.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,893 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,285 shares during the quarter. Allworth Financial LP’s holdings in MetLife were worth $876,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in MetLife by 7.4% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 26,488,146 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,126,734,000 after purchasing an additional 1,824,907 shares during the period. Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its position in MetLife by 6.8% in the second quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 9,144,635 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $735,412,000 after purchasing an additional 585,671 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in shares of MetLife by 3.6% in the 1st quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,406,512 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $594,410,000 after buying an additional 259,993 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of MetLife by 0.8% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,109,423 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $570,816,000 after buying an additional 57,221 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of MetLife by 3.7% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,671,435 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $535,568,000 after acquiring an additional 236,698 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

MetLife Trading Down 1.0%

MET opened at $78.65 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $51.82 billion, a PE ratio of 13.33, a P/E/G ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.16 and a quick ratio of 0.16. MetLife, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $65.21 and a fifty-two week high of $89.05. The company’s 50-day moving average is $79.82 and its 200 day moving average is $78.92.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 5th. The financial services provider reported $2.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.07. MetLife had a return on equity of 19.88% and a net margin of 5.83%.The business had revenue of $12.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.64 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.95 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 9th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 4th will be paid a $0.5675 dividend. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 4th. MetLife’s payout ratio is currently 42.75%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of MetLife from $96.00 to $92.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of MetLife from $92.00 to $90.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. UBS Group reduced their price target on MetLife from $96.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 6th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of MetLife in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded MetLife to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, MetLife currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $95.00.

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.