New Vernon Investment Management LLC Buys New Shares in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

New Vernon Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 4,042 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $331,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Two Sigma Securities LLC boosted its position in shares of MetLife by 632.2% during the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Securities LLC now owns 9,518 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $779,000 after purchasing an additional 8,218 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC boosted its holdings in shares of MetLife by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 8,519 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $698,000 after buying an additional 446 shares in the last quarter. Syon Capital LLC grew its position in shares of MetLife by 11.3% during the 4th quarter. Syon Capital LLC now owns 10,439 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $855,000 after buying an additional 1,062 shares during the period. MGO One Seven LLC bought a new stake in shares of MetLife in the 4th quarter valued at $650,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of MetLife by 33.7% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 24,663,239 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,019,427,000 after acquiring an additional 6,213,923 shares during the period. 94.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of MetLife from $88.00 to $86.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. BMO Capital Markets started coverage on MetLife in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $97.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com lowered MetLife from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on MetLife from $98.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of MetLife from $92.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $92.46.

MetLife Stock Performance

NYSE:MET opened at $75.86 on Friday. MetLife, Inc. has a 1 year low of $65.21 and a 1 year high of $89.05. 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 business has a fifty day simple moving average of $78.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $81.87. The company has a market capitalization of $51.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.71, a P/E/G ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 0.89.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The financial services provider reported $2.08 earnings per share (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%. On average, analysts expect that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current year.

MetLife Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 6th will be issued a $0.5675 dividend. This is a positive change from MetLife’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 6th. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.02%.

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.