Principal Securities Inc. Buys 456 Shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Principal Securities Inc. raised its stake in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 5.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 8,168 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 456 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc.’s holdings in MetLife were worth $669,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of MET. PFG Investments LLC increased its position in shares of MetLife by 8.9% during the 3rd quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 6,360 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $525,000 after purchasing an additional 520 shares during the last quarter. CX Institutional increased its holdings in MetLife by 15.9% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new stake in MetLife in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $2,960,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in MetLife by 48,101.4% in the 3rd quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 106,043 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,746,000 after acquiring an additional 105,823 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC purchased a new stake in MetLife in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,074,000. Institutional investors own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on MET. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of MetLife from $96.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of MetLife from $97.00 to $99.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of MetLife from $92.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on shares of MetLife in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. They set a “market perform” rating and a $97.00 price objective for the company. Finally, 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 report on Wednesday, February 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $92.58.

MetLife Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of MET opened at $82.82 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $57.34 billion, a PE ratio of 13.87, a P/E/G ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 1.07. The business has a fifty day moving average of $83.45 and a 200 day moving average of $81.26. MetLife, Inc. has a 52-week low of $67.30 and a 52-week high of $89.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last released 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 return on equity of 20.42% and a net margin of 6.19%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 EPS for the current year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 4th will be paid a $0.545 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 4th. This represents a $2.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.63%. MetLife’s payout ratio is 36.52%.

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.