United Asset Strategies Inc. Increases Position in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

United Asset Strategies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 1.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 10,933 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the period. United Asset Strategies Inc.’s holdings in MetLife were worth $895,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of MET. PFG Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of MetLife by 8.9% during the third quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 6,360 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $525,000 after purchasing an additional 520 shares during the last quarter. CX Institutional lifted its holdings in MetLife by 15.9% during the 4th quarter. CX Institutional now owns 68,005 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,568,000 after buying an additional 9,337 shares in the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new stake in MetLife in the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,960,000. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC bought a new position in MetLife in the 3rd quarter worth about $1,074,000. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of MetLife by 48,101.4% during the third quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 106,043 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,746,000 after acquiring an additional 105,823 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MET. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on MetLife from $85.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Barclays raised their price target on MetLife from $90.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of MetLife from $86.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of MetLife from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of MetLife from $93.00 to $92.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $90.46.

MetLife Stock Up 1.1 %

MetLife stock opened at $86.97 on Tuesday. MetLife, Inc. has a 1-year low of $64.61 and a 1-year high of $89.05. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $83.81 and a 200-day moving average price of $80.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 0.16 and a quick ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $60.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.53, a PEG ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 1.07.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.545 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 4th. This represents a $2.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.51%. MetLife’s payout ratio is 43.95%.

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.