Graney & King LLC Acquires Shares of 421 MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Graney & King LLC bought a new position in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 421 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $34,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MET. CX Institutional lifted its position in MetLife by 15.9% in the fourth quarter. CX Institutional now owns 68,005 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,568,000 after purchasing an additional 9,337 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of MetLife by 109.2% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,826,658 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $722,727,000 after buying an additional 4,606,748 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of MetLife by 27.3% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 13,692 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,116,000 after buying an additional 2,940 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its holdings in MetLife by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 776,244 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $63,559,000 after acquiring an additional 12,723 shares during the period. Finally, Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in MetLife in the fourth quarter worth $259,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

MetLife Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of MET opened at $83.91 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $83.50 and a two-hundred day moving average of $82.80. MetLife, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $67.30 and a fifty-two week high of $89.05. The company has a market capitalization of $57.16 billion, a PE ratio of 14.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a current ratio of 0.16.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The financial services provider reported $2.08 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.13 by ($0.05). MetLife had a net margin of 6.19% and a return on equity of 20.42%. As a group, analysts forecast that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 EPS for the current year.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 4th were issued a $0.545 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 4th. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.60%. MetLife’s payout ratio is 36.52%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on MET shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of MetLife from $86.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of MetLife from $100.00 to $98.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of MetLife from $101.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on MetLife from $97.00 to $99.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on MetLife in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $97.00 target price on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $94.58.

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.