Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC Acquires 1,154 Shares of MetLife, Inc. $MET

Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 4.4% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 27,469 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,154 shares during the period. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in MetLife were worth $2,209,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew 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 worth $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% in 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 in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew 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 worth $711,597,000 after purchasing an additional 36,177 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in MetLife by 3.6% in the 1st quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,406,512 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $594,410,000 after purchasing an additional 259,993 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its position in MetLife by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,109,423 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $570,816,000 after purchasing an additional 57,221 shares in the last quarter. 94.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MET has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective 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. Wolfe Research upgraded MetLife to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 16th. Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of MetLife in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of MetLife from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price 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. 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MetLife currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $95.18.

MetLife Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MET opened at $78.71 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $80.37 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $78.38. MetLife, Inc. has a 1-year low of $65.21 and a 1-year high of $89.05. The firm has a market cap of $52.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a current ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last announced 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 net margin of 5.83% and a return on equity of 19.88%. The firm had revenue of $17.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.58 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.28 earnings per share. MetLife’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 9th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 4th will be issued a $0.5675 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 4th. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 38.47%.

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.