Stephens Inc. AR Purchases 3,988 Shares of MetLife, Inc. $MET

Stephens Inc. AR lifted its position in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 10.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 42,697 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,988 shares during the quarter. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in MetLife were worth $3,434,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $2,126,734,000 after purchasing an additional 1,824,907 shares in the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC grew its position in MetLife by 6.8% during the 2nd 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 last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in shares of MetLife by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,862,835 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $711,597,000 after acquiring an additional 36,177 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted 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 valued at $594,410,000 after acquiring an additional 259,993 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in 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. Institutional investors own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

MetLife Trading Down 0.6%

NYSE MET opened at $78.58 on Thursday. MetLife, Inc. has a 12 month low of $65.21 and a 12 month high of $89.05. The company has a 50-day moving average of $80.34 and a 200-day moving average of $78.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.16 and a quick ratio of 0.16. The company has a market cap of $52.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.32, a P/E/G ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.86.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.32 by ($0.30). The firm had revenue of $17.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.58 billion. MetLife had a return on equity of 19.88% and a net margin of 5.83%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.28 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current year.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 9th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 4th will be given a $0.5675 dividend. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 4th. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio is presently 38.47%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MET has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of MetLife from $94.00 to $92.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of MetLife from $93.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of MetLife from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of MetLife from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of MetLife in a research report on Friday, August 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $95.18.

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.