Bridgewater Associates LP Boosts Stake in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Bridgewater Associates LP lifted its stake in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 151.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 1,198,030 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 721,344 shares during the quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP’s holdings in MetLife were worth $98,095,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CX Institutional lifted its position in MetLife by 15.9% in the 4th quarter. CX Institutional now owns 68,005 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,568,000 after buying an additional 9,337 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of MetLife by 109.2% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,826,658 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $722,727,000 after purchasing an additional 4,606,748 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in MetLife by 27.3% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 13,692 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,116,000 after purchasing an additional 2,940 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its position in MetLife by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 776,244 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $63,559,000 after buying an additional 12,723 shares during the period. Finally, Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of MetLife during the fourth quarter valued at about $259,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on MetLife from $109.00 to $94.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of MetLife in a report on Friday, March 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on shares of MetLife from $98.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on shares of MetLife in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $97.00 price target on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of MetLife from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, MetLife has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $92.46.

MetLife Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MET opened at $72.92 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a current ratio of 0.16. The company has a market capitalization of $49.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.21, a P/E/G ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $80.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $82.40. MetLife, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $65.21 and a fifty-two week high of $89.05.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last issued its quarterly 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 net margin of 6.19% and a return on equity of 20.42%. Analysts expect that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.