Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC Acquires 3,284 Shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 28.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,022 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,284 shares during the quarter. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in MetLife were worth $1,054,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in MetLife by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,622,348 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,418,612,000 after acquiring an additional 1,974,268 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of MetLife by 22.4% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,396,274 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $378,799,000 after purchasing an additional 988,666 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in MetLife by 3.2% in the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,224,930 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $226,358,000 after purchasing an additional 100,782 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in MetLife by 4.1% during the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,772,751 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $205,544,000 after purchasing an additional 108,739 shares during the period. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. increased its holdings in MetLife by 29.7% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 2,120,275 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $157,133,000 after buying an additional 485,811 shares during the period. 89.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MET has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of MetLife from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on MetLife from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on MetLife from $83.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. StockNews.com lowered MetLife from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on MetLife from $86.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $84.54.

MetLife Trading Down 0.3 %

MET opened at $80.85 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.16 and a quick ratio of 0.16. MetLife, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $57.91 and a fifty-two week high of $81.39. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $74.66 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $72.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $57.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.78, a PEG ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 1.04.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $2.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.13 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $17.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.57 billion. MetLife had a net margin of 4.23% and a return on equity of 21.41%. MetLife’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.94 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that MetLife, Inc. will post 8.67 earnings per share for the current year.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 6th were given a dividend of $0.545 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 6th. This represents a $2.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.70%. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 74.91%.

MetLife Company 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.