Vest Financial LLC Has $3.04 Million Stock Position in MetLife, Inc. $MET

Vest Financial LLC boosted its position in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET - Free Report) by 39.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 37,821 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 10,660 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC's holdings in MetLife were worth $3,042,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MET. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in shares of MetLife by 9.0% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 4,240 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $347,000 after buying an additional 351 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of MetLife by 10.7% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 10,162 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $816,000 after buying an additional 984 shares during the last quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management lifted its position in shares of MetLife by 52.1% in the first quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 9,355 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $751,000 after buying an additional 3,204 shares during the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC lifted its position in shares of MetLife by 118.0% in the first quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 1,225 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $98,000 after buying an additional 663 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Montecito Bank & Trust lifted its position in shares of MetLife by 2.9% in the first quarter. Montecito Bank & Trust now owns 8,917 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $716,000 after buying an additional 252 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.99% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MET has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on MetLife from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on MetLife from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on MetLife from $100.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on MetLife from $94.00 to $92.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on MetLife from $93.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MetLife has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $95.18.

MetLife Trading Up 2.6%

MetLife stock opened at $82.90 on Wednesday. MetLife, Inc. has a 12 month low of $65.21 and a 12 month high of $89.05. The stock has a market cap of $55.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 0.86. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $79.96 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $78.13. The company has a quick ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57.

MetLife (NYSE:MET - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.32 by ($0.30). MetLife had a net margin of 5.83% and a return on equity of 19.88%. The company had revenue of $17.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.58 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.28 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 EPS for the current year.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 9th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 4th will be paid a $0.5675 dividend. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 4th. MetLife's dividend payout ratio is currently 38.47%.

MetLife 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.

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