NorthRock Partners LLC Buys Shares of 7,377 MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

NorthRock Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 7,377 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $604,000.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp lifted its position in shares of MetLife by 19.5% in the 4th quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 26,083 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,136,000 after acquiring an additional 4,254 shares during the period. NDVR Inc. boosted its position in shares of MetLife by 7.3% during the 4th quarter. NDVR Inc. now owns 3,710 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $304,000 after acquiring an additional 251 shares in the last quarter. Logan Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in MetLife by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Logan Capital Management Inc. now owns 31,883 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,611,000 after acquiring an additional 955 shares during the period. Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC raised its position in MetLife by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,329 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,173,000 after purchasing an additional 684 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group Inc. raised its position in MetLife by 455.9% in the fourth quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 306,352 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $25,084,000 after purchasing an additional 251,238 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.99% of the company's stock.

MetLife Price Performance

Shares of MET stock traded up $0.04 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $80.87. 1,999,461 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,405,957. The stock's fifty day moving average is $77.04 and its two-hundred day moving average is $81.14. MetLife, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $65.21 and a fifty-two week high of $89.05. The company has a market cap of $54.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.55, a P/E/G 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 (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). MetLife had a net margin of 6.19% and a return on equity of 20.42%. The business had revenue of $18.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.06 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.83 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 15.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MetLife announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock 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 reacquire up to 5.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

MetLife Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 6th will be issued a $0.5675 dividend. This is a positive change from MetLife's previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 6th. MetLife's dividend payout ratio is currently 36.91%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MET. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on MetLife from $98.00 to $95.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of MetLife from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com raised shares of MetLife from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of MetLife from $92.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of MetLife from $91.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $93.08.

About MetLife

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.