Ethic Inc. Buys 6,313 Shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Ethic Inc. lifted its stake in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 6.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 108,364 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,313 shares during the quarter. Ethic Inc.’s holdings in MetLife were worth $8,873,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. First Manhattan CO. LLC. raised its position in shares of MetLife by 23.1% in the fourth quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC. now owns 2,987 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $245,000 after purchasing an additional 561 shares during the period. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. bought a new position in MetLife in the 4th quarter worth $222,000. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its position in MetLife by 27.9% during the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 2,575,557 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $210,887,000 after acquiring an additional 562,320 shares during the last quarter. Concentric Capital Strategies LP bought a new stake in MetLife during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,693,000. Finally, Cornerstone Select Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MetLife in the fourth quarter valued at about $257,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MET has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Barclays cut their price objective on MetLife from $95.00 to $88.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on MetLife from $91.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of MetLife from $98.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of MetLife from $109.00 to $94.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on shares of MetLife in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. They set a “market perform” rating and a $97.00 price objective on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MetLife presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $92.69.

MetLife Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of MET opened at $77.82 on Friday. MetLife, Inc. has a 12 month low of $65.21 and a 12 month high of $89.05. The stock has a market cap of $52.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.04, a P/E/G ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $77.09 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $81.24. 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) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.96 EPS 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 company had revenue of $18.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.06 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.83 EPS. MetLife’s quarterly revenue was up 15.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 6th will be given a dividend of $0.5675 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 6th. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.92%. This is a boost from MetLife’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.91%.

MetLife announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, April 30th that permits the company to buyback $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to purchase up to 5.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.