CGN Advisors LLC Purchases Shares of 17,409 MetLife, Inc. $MET

CGN Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 17,409 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,374,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in MetLife by 13.3% during the 3rd 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. Dodge & Cox raised its holdings in shares of MetLife by 0.9% in the third quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 53,659,664 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,419,947,000 after buying an additional 477,783 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of MetLife by 1.5% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,572,807 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,035,622,000 after buying an additional 180,683 shares during the period. Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of MetLife by 5.8% during 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. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of MetLife during the second quarter valued at $756,104,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on MET shares. Weiss Ratings lowered MetLife from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Monday, March 9th. UBS Group increased their price objective on MetLife from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on MetLife from $97.00 to $93.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Barclays set a $90.00 target price on MetLife in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of MetLife from $101.00 to $93.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $93.67.

MetLife Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of MetLife stock opened at $68.52 on Friday. MetLife, Inc. has a 52-week low of $65.21 and a 52-week high of $85.00. The company has a 50 day moving average of $75.07 and a 200 day moving average of $77.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 0.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The company has a market capitalization of $44.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.58, a P/E/G ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 0.76.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.34 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $52.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $31.43 billion. MetLife had a net margin of 4.38% and a return on equity of 21.81%. The company’s revenue was up 27.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.08 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 3rd were given a dividend of $0.5675 per share. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 3rd. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.30%.

About MetLife

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.