Integrated Quantitative Investments LLC Buys Shares of 5,000 MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Integrated Quantitative Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 5,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $409,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. CX Institutional raised its position in MetLife by 15.9% during the fourth quarter. CX Institutional now owns 68,005 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,568,000 after acquiring an additional 9,337 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in MetLife by 109.2% during 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 last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its position in MetLife by 27.3% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 13,692 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,116,000 after buying an additional 2,940 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its holdings in shares of MetLife by 1.7% in 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 last quarter. Finally, Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MetLife in the fourth quarter valued at $259,000. 94.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on MET shares. Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of MetLife in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on shares of MetLife from $100.00 to $98.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of MetLife from $92.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. UBS Group boosted their price target on MetLife from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, StockNews.com lowered MetLife from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $94.85.

MetLife Stock Down 9.5 %

Shares of NYSE:MET opened at $68.71 on Friday. MetLife, Inc. has a 1 year low of $67.30 and a 1 year high of $89.05. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $82.41 and a 200-day simple moving average of $82.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a current ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.51, a PEG ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 0.89.

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

MetLife Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 4th were given a dividend of $0.545 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 4th. This represents a $2.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.17%. MetLife’s payout ratio is 36.52%.

MetLife 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.