Tidal Investments LLC Grows Position in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Tidal Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET - Free Report) by 22.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 23,671 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 4,389 shares during the quarter. Tidal Investments LLC's holdings in MetLife were worth $1,938,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MET. Norges Bank purchased a new position in MetLife in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $730,716,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in shares of MetLife by 33.7% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 24,663,239 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,019,427,000 after buying an additional 6,213,923 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in MetLife by 109.2% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,826,658 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $722,727,000 after acquiring an additional 4,606,748 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its position in MetLife by 43.7% in the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 5,663,177 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $463,701,000 after acquiring an additional 1,723,461 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB boosted its stake in MetLife by 76.0% in the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 3,466,808 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $283,862,000 after acquiring an additional 1,496,645 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.99% of the company's stock.

MetLife Price Performance

Shares of MET stock traded up $1.78 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $78.99. 3,300,569 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,402,354. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $76.77 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $81.08. The firm has a market cap of $53.03 billion, a PE ratio of 13.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.16 and a quick 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 posted its 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). MetLife had a return on equity of 20.42% and a net margin of 6.19%. The firm had revenue of $18.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $18.06 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.83 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 15.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

MetLife Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 6th will be issued 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.87%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 6th. MetLife's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.91%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on 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. reduced their price target on shares of MetLife from $88.00 to $86.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Wall Street Zen cut shares of MetLife from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday. Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of MetLife in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on MetLife from $95.00 to $88.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MetLife has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $94.17.

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.