Legato Capital Management LLC Buys New Shares in MetLife, Inc. $MET

Legato Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 8,388 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $662,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MET. Providence Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MetLife in the third quarter worth $6,649,000. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its stake in shares of MetLife by 8.9% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,176,469 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $96,905,000 after acquiring an additional 96,523 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in shares of MetLife by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,630,165 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $366,524,000 after acquiring an additional 117,545 shares during the period. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co increased its stake in shares of MetLife by 21.9% in the third quarter. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 137,956 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $11,363,000 after acquiring an additional 24,800 shares during the period. Finally, Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ increased its stake in shares of MetLife by 6.5% in the third quarter. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ now owns 187,358 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $15,433,000 after acquiring an additional 11,469 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Mizuho set a $95.00 price target on MetLife in a report on Friday, May 8th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on MetLife from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on MetLife from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on MetLife from $87.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on MetLife from $89.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, MetLife presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $95.31.

MetLife Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of NYSE:MET opened at $83.39 on Wednesday. MetLife, Inc. has a 12-month low of $67.33 and a 12-month high of $85.29. The company has a market capitalization of $53.66 billion, a PE ratio of 16.16, a PEG ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 0.78. The business has a 50 day moving average of $75.67 and a two-hundred day moving average of $76.72. The company has a current ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 0.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.15. MetLife had a return on equity of 22.60% and a net margin of 4.66%.The business had revenue of $14.18 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.49 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.96 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.94 EPS for the current year.

MetLife Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 9th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th will be given a dividend of $0.5925 per share. This is a positive change from MetLife’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 12th. This represents a $2.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. MetLife’s payout ratio is 45.93%.

About MetLife

MetLife, Inc is a global provider of insurance, annuities and employee benefit programs. Headquartered in New York City, the company offers a range of risk protection and retirement solutions to individuals, employers and institutional clients. Its core businesses include life insurance, group benefits, retirement products such as annuities, and supplemental health products including dental and disability coverage.

In addition to traditional life and group insurance, MetLife provides workplace benefits and voluntary products distributed through employer-sponsored programs.