City National Bank of Florida MSD Invests $282,000 in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

City National Bank of Florida MSD acquired a new stake in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 3,450 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $282,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MET. Tallon Kerry Patrick bought a new stake in shares of MetLife during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $260,000. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of MetLife by 9.5% during the fourth quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,704 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $221,000 after purchasing an additional 234 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in shares of MetLife by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 6,967 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $570,000 after purchasing an additional 211 shares during the period. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its position in shares of MetLife by 11.2% during the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 2,605 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $213,000 after purchasing an additional 263 shares during the period. Finally, Koshinski Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of MetLife by 5.8% during the fourth quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,992 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $245,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares during the period. 94.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

MetLife Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of NYSE:MET traded down $0.46 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $77.20. The company had a trading volume of 2,958,693 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,402,763. MetLife, Inc. has a 1-year low of $65.21 and a 1-year high of $89.05. The stock has a market cap of $51.82 billion, a PE ratio of 12.93, a P/E/G ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a quick ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The business's 50 day moving average price is $76.89 and its 200 day moving average price is $81.10.

MetLife (NYSE:MET - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.96 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $2.00 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $18.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.06 billion. MetLife had a net margin of 6.19% and a return on equity of 20.42%. The business's revenue was up 15.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.83 EPS. Research analysts forecast 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. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.5675 per share. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 6th. This is a boost from MetLife's previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. MetLife's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.91%.

MetLife announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, April 30th that authorizes the company to buyback $3.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to reacquire up to 5.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on MET. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on MetLife from $91.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on MetLife from $94.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on MetLife from $88.00 to $86.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on MetLife from $98.00 to $95.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on MetLife from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, MetLife has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $94.17.

About MetLife

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.