Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Raises Stock Holdings in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET - Free Report) by 33.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 24,663,239 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 6,213,923 shares during the quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned about 3.56% of MetLife worth $2,019,427,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Transce3nd LLC acquired a new position in MetLife during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of MetLife during the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Sierra Ocean LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MetLife in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Graney & King LLC acquired a new stake in MetLife during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Values First Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in MetLife during the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. 94.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MET has been the topic of several analyst reports. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of MetLife from $95.00 to $88.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on MetLife from $92.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded MetLife from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of MetLife from $109.00 to $94.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of MetLife from $97.00 to $91.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $92.46.

MetLife Stock Up 0.7 %

MetLife stock traded up $0.51 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $75.70. The company's stock had a trading volume of 753,783 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,771,572. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $78.35 and a 200-day simple moving average of $81.78. The company has a market cap of $51.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.68, a P/E/G ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 0.89. MetLife, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $65.21 and a fifty-two week high of $89.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54.

MetLife (NYSE:MET - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The financial services provider reported $2.08 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.13 by ($0.05). MetLife had a return on equity of 20.42% and a net margin of 6.19%. On average, research analysts expect that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.5675 per share. 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 3.00%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 6th. MetLife's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 38.02%.

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.