Freedom Investment Management Inc. Has $841,000 Holdings in MetLife, Inc. $MET

Freedom Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 8.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,456 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 816 shares during the quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in MetLife were worth $841,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position 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 valued at $2,126,734,000 after acquiring an additional 1,824,907 shares in the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC increased its position in MetLife by 6.8% in the 2nd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 9,144,635 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $735,412,000 after acquiring an additional 585,671 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in 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 in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 259,993 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of MetLife by 0.8% during the 1st 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 during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

MetLife Stock Up 0.7%

MetLife stock opened at $78.71 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $80.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $78.31. MetLife, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $65.21 and a fifty-two week high of $89.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $52.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.34, a PEG ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 0.86. 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 (NYSE:MET) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.32 by ($0.30). MetLife had a return on equity of 19.88% and a net margin of 5.83%.The firm had revenue of $17.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.58 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.28 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 EPS for the current year.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 4th. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. MetLife’s payout ratio is presently 38.47%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MET has been the subject of several analyst reports. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of MetLife from $93.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of MetLife to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 16th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of MetLife in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of MetLife from $100.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of MetLife from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $95.18.

MetLife Company 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.