F m Investments LLC Raises Stake in MetLife, Inc. $MET

F m Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 3.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 113,001 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,832 shares during the period. F m Investments LLC’s holdings in MetLife were worth $9,089,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of MetLife in the 2nd quarter valued at $756,104,000. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC raised its position in MetLife by 79.6% in the 2nd quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC now owns 29,359 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,361,000 after purchasing an additional 13,014 shares during the period. Groupama Asset Managment lifted its stake in MetLife by 4.2% in the second quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 659,175 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $52,978,000 after purchasing an additional 26,779 shares during the last quarter. Korea Investment CORP boosted its position in MetLife by 6.8% during the second quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 594,573 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $47,816,000 after buying an additional 38,112 shares during the period. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its position in MetLife by 47.4% during the second quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 19,789 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,591,000 after buying an additional 6,361 shares during the period. 94.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on MET shares. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on MetLife from $100.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 11th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on MetLife from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Barclays boosted their price objective on MetLife from $93.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of MetLife from $96.00 to $92.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 7th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of MetLife to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $94.60.

MetLife Trading Up 0.8%

NYSE MET opened at $76.33 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $50.29 billion, a PE ratio of 12.94, a P/E/G ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 0.87. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $79.06 and its 200 day moving average is $78.83. MetLife, Inc. has a twelve month low of $65.21 and a twelve month high of $89.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 5th. The financial services provider reported $2.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.07. MetLife had a return on equity of 19.88% and a net margin of 5.83%.The business had revenue of $12.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.95 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 9th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 4th will be given a dividend of $0.5675 per share. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 4th. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 42.75%.

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.