Barrett & Company Inc. Acquires 121 Shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Barrett & Company Inc. boosted its holdings in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 1.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,942 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 121 shares during the period. Barrett & Company Inc.’s holdings in MetLife were worth $978,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. PFG Investments LLC lifted its stake in MetLife by 8.9% in the third quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 6,360 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $525,000 after purchasing an additional 520 shares during the last quarter. CX Institutional increased its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 9,337 shares during the period. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new position in shares of MetLife in the third quarter valued at about $2,960,000. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC purchased a new position in shares of MetLife in the third quarter valued at about $1,074,000. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of MetLife by 48,101.4% in the third quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 106,043 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,746,000 after acquiring an additional 105,823 shares during the period. 94.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on MET shares. BMO Capital Markets started coverage on shares of MetLife in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $97.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of MetLife from $90.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of MetLife from $93.00 to $92.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com cut shares of MetLife from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of MetLife from $97.00 to $99.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MetLife has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $91.17.

MetLife Trading Down 1.7 %

NYSE:MET opened at $83.58 on Friday. MetLife, Inc. has a one year low of $66.02 and a one year high of $89.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 0.16 and a quick ratio of 0.16. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $83.80 and its 200 day simple moving average is $80.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $57.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.85, a PEG ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.07.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The financial services provider reported $2.08 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.13 by ($0.05). MetLife had a return on equity of 20.01% and a net margin of 5.27%. As a group, analysts forecast that MetLife, Inc. will post 8.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 4th will be paid a $0.545 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 4th. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.61%. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.95%.

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.