Lake Street Advisors Group LLC Buys 381 Shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Lake Street Advisors Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 8.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,062 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 381 shares during the quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC’s holdings in MetLife were worth $414,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Swedbank AB increased its stake in shares of MetLife by 5.3% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,970,163 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $162,499,000 after purchasing an additional 99,328 shares in the last quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in MetLife by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 5,918 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $488,000 after buying an additional 178 shares during the period. Fortitude Family Office LLC increased its stake in MetLife by 177.3% in the 3rd quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 416 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 266 shares in the last quarter. Eagle Strategies LLC bought a new stake in MetLife during the third quarter valued at about $213,000. Finally, Golden State Equity Partners purchased a new position in shares of MetLife in the third quarter valued at about $205,000. 94.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MET has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on MetLife from $92.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of MetLife from $96.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of MetLife from $97.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on shares of MetLife in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. They set a “market perform” rating and a $97.00 target price for the company. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of MetLife from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, MetLife currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $92.58.

MetLife Price Performance

MET stock opened at $84.08 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $83.56 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $81.72. MetLife, Inc. has a 52 week low of $67.30 and a 52 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. The firm has a market capitalization of $58.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 1.07.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The financial services provider reported $2.08 EPS 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%. Analysts anticipate that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 4th will be given a dividend of $0.545 per share. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.59%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 4th. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.52%.

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.