Versor Investments LP grew its holdings in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 93.9% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 10,200 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,939 shares during the quarter. Versor Investments LP’s holdings in MetLife were worth $630,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV increased its stake in shares of MetLife by 136.0% during the second quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 479 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 276 shares during the period. Barrett Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of MetLife during the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Sandy Spring Bank increased its stake in shares of MetLife by 49.7% during the second quarter. Sandy Spring Bank now owns 536 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 178 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc. purchased a new position in shares of MetLife during the third quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Mascoma Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of MetLife during the third quarter valued at approximately $41,000. 89.84% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on MetLife from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on MetLife in a research note on Thursday, December 2nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $77.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on MetLife from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 12th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $68.50.
NYSE MET opened at $62.68 on Thursday. MetLife, Inc. has a 12 month low of $45.72 and a 12 month high of $67.68. The stock has a market cap of $52.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.33, a P/E/G ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 1.25. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $62.22 and its 200-day moving average price is $61.39. The company has a current ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 0.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.
MetLife (NYSE:MET) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 3rd. The financial services provider reported $2.39 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.66 by $0.73. MetLife had a return on equity of 11.62% and a net margin of 7.77%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.73 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that MetLife, Inc. will post 8.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 9th were paid a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 8th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.06%. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.63%.
In other news, CEO Michel Khalaf sold 42,748 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.74, for a total value of $2,596,513.52. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.
MetLife Profile
MetLife, Inc provides insurance and financial services to individual and institutional customers. It offers life insurance, annuities, automobile and homeowner’s insurance and retail banking services to individuals as well as group insurance, reinsurance and retirement and savings products and services.
Further Reading: Understanding debt-to-equity ratio in fundamental analysis
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