Golden State Wealth Management LLC Has $365,000 Stock Holdings in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Golden State Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET - Free Report) by 742.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,540 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 4,001 shares during the period. Golden State Wealth Management LLC's holdings in MetLife were worth $365,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of MET. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its position in MetLife by 27.3% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 13,692 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,116,000 after acquiring an additional 2,940 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its stake in shares of MetLife by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 776,244 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $63,559,000 after purchasing an additional 12,723 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. increased its holdings in MetLife by 7.1% in the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 435,847 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $35,687,000 after purchasing an additional 28,848 shares during the period. Ritholtz Wealth Management raised its position in MetLife by 52.1% during the 1st quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 9,355 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $751,000 after purchasing an additional 3,204 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in MetLife by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,913,408 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $320,430,000 after buying an additional 30,187 shares during the period. 94.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MET. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on MetLife from $94.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Wall Street Zen cut MetLife from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, May 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered 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. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of MetLife from $95.00 to $88.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of MetLife from $98.00 to $95.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $94.17.

MetLife Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of MetLife stock traded up $0.44 during trading on Friday, reaching $80.40. 3,643,597 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,375,192. The firm has a market capitalization of $53.97 billion, a PE ratio of 13.07, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.86. MetLife, Inc. has a 1-year low of $65.21 and a 1-year high of $89.05. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $78.10 and a 200-day moving average price of $80.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.16 and a quick ratio of 0.16.

MetLife (NYSE:MET - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.96 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.00 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $18.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.06 billion. MetLife had a net margin of 6.08% and a return on equity of 20.89%. MetLife's revenue for the quarter was up 15.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.83 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 6th were paid a dividend of $0.5675 per share. This is an increase from MetLife's previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 6th. MetLife's dividend payout ratio is 36.91%.

MetLife announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, April 30th that permits the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to buy up to 5.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company's board believes its stock is 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.