Westbourne Investments Inc. Invests $389,000 in MetLife, Inc. $MET

Key Points

• Westbourne Investments Inc. has acquired 4,840 shares of MetLife, Inc. valued at approximately $389,000 during the first quarter.
• MetLife reported earnings per share of $2.02 for the last quarter, missing analysts' expectations of $2.32, with a revenue of $17.34 billion, down 2.7% from the previous year.
• The stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from Wall Street analysts, with an average price target of $95.60.

Westbourne Investments Inc. bought a new stake in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 4,840 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $389,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of MetLife during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. North Capital Inc. bought a new position in shares of MetLife during the first quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Motco increased its stake in shares of MetLife by 105.5% during the first quarter. Motco now owns 413 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 212 shares in the last quarter. WPG Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of MetLife during the first quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Finally, American National Bank & Trust increased its stake in shares of MetLife by 128.4% during the first quarter. American National Bank & Trust now owns 603 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 339 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.99% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MET. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of MetLife from $86.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of MetLife from $94.00 to $92.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Cowen reissued a "buy" rating on shares of MetLife in a research report on Friday, August 22nd. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of MetLife from $98.00 to $94.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of MetLife from $94.00 to $91.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MetLife has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $95.60.

MetLife Stock Performance

MET stock traded up $0.52 on Friday, hitting $80.86. The company had a trading volume of 2,314,200 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,642,683. MetLife, Inc. has a 12-month low of $65.21 and a 12-month high of $89.05. The company has a current ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $78.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $78.32. The stock has a market cap of $53.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.70, a P/E/G ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 0.87.

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

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 9th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 5th were paid a dividend of $0.5675 per share. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 5th. MetLife's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 38.47%.

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.