Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC Has $22.17 Million Stock Holdings in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET - Free Report) by 6.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 270,719 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 15,479 shares during the quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC's holdings in MetLife were worth $22,166,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MET. Tallon Kerry Patrick acquired a new stake in shares of MetLife during the fourth quarter worth about $260,000. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in shares of MetLife by 9.0% during 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 in the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its holdings in shares of MetLife by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 3,416 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $280,000 after buying an additional 235 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of MetLife by 5.8% during the fourth quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 3,227 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $264,000 after buying an additional 176 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PFG Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of MetLife by 19.8% during the fourth quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 7,621 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $624,000 after buying an additional 1,261 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.99% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on MET shares. UBS Group increased their price objective on MetLife from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on MetLife from $92.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Cowen reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of MetLife in a report on Friday, March 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on MetLife from $88.00 to $86.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on MetLife from $95.00 to $88.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, MetLife presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $94.17.

MetLife Stock Performance

NYSE:MET traded up $0.69 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $79.37. 3,114,439 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,398,649. The stock has a market capitalization of $53.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 0.85. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $76.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $80.93. 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 fifty-two week low of $65.21 and a fifty-two week high of $89.05.

MetLife (NYSE:MET - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $18.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.06 billion. MetLife had a return on equity of 20.42% and a net margin of 6.19%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 15.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.83 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 is a boost from MetLife's previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.86%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 6th. MetLife's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.91%.

MetLife announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, April 30th that permits the company to buyback $3.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to purchase up to 5.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company's management 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.