Cetera Investment Advisers Purchases 4,149 Shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Cetera Investment Advisers grew its stake in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET - Free Report) by 2.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 189,333 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 4,149 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers' holdings in MetLife were worth $15,503,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MET. CX Institutional grew 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 purchasing an additional 9,337 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of MetLife by 109.2% in the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 4,606,748 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its position in MetLife by 27.3% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 13,692 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,116,000 after purchasing an additional 2,940 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its holdings in MetLife by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 776,244 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $63,559,000 after buying an additional 12,723 shares during the period. Finally, Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of MetLife in the 4th quarter valued at $259,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.99% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on MetLife from $92.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on shares of MetLife from $98.00 to $95.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of MetLife from $88.00 to $86.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on MetLife in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. They issued a "market perform" rating and a $97.00 target price for the company. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of MetLife from $95.00 to $88.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, MetLife presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $92.69.

MetLife Stock Down 0.0%

MetLife stock traded down $0.01 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $79.94. The stock had a trading volume of 717,429 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,396,200. The stock has a market capitalization of $53.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 0.85. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $76.97 and its 200-day simple moving average is $81.17. 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, Inc. has a 1-year low of $65.21 and a 1-year high of $89.05.

MetLife (NYSE:MET - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.96 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.00 by ($0.04). MetLife had a return on equity of 20.42% and a net margin of 6.19%. The business had revenue of $18.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.06 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.83 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 15.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.5675 per share. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 6th. This is a positive change from MetLife's previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. MetLife's dividend payout ratio is presently 36.91%.

MetLife declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, April 30th that authorizes the company to buyback $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to reacquire up to 5.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.