Advisors Capital Management LLC Boosts Position in MetLife, Inc. $MET

Advisors Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 1.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 183,087 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,910 shares during the quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC’s holdings in MetLife were worth $14,700,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Csenge Advisory Group increased its position in MetLife by 1.0% during the first quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 13,647 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,096,000 after acquiring an additional 131 shares during the last quarter. Delta Investment Management LLC increased its position in MetLife by 0.9% during the first quarter. Delta Investment Management LLC now owns 14,265 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,145,000 after acquiring an additional 133 shares during the last quarter. Glenview Trust co increased its position in MetLife by 0.4% during the first quarter. Glenview Trust co now owns 38,333 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,078,000 after acquiring an additional 141 shares during the last quarter. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. increased its position in MetLife by 2.5% during the first quarter. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. now owns 6,463 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $519,000 after acquiring an additional 159 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Unigestion Holding SA increased its position in MetLife by 0.7% during the first quarter. Unigestion Holding SA now owns 23,661 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,900,000 after acquiring an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on MET shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on MetLife from $86.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on MetLife from $94.00 to $92.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on MetLife from $100.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Wall Street Zen cut MetLife from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 24th. Finally, Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of MetLife in a research report on Friday, August 22nd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MetLife presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $95.60.

MetLife Stock Performance

NYSE MET opened at $80.36 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $53.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a quick ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $78.21 and a 200-day moving average price of $78.33. MetLife, Inc. has a twelve month low of $65.21 and a twelve month high of $89.05.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.32 by ($0.30). The business had revenue of $17.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.58 billion. MetLife had a return on equity of 19.88% and a net margin of 5.83%.The business’s revenue was down 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.28 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict 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, September 9th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 5th were paid a $0.5675 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 5th. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio is 38.47%.

About MetLife

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.