Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC Takes $281,000 Position in MetLife, Inc. $MET

Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 3,493 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $281,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MET. Csenge Advisory Group increased its position in shares of MetLife by 1.0% in the first quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 13,647 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,096,000 after buying an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. Delta Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MetLife by 0.9% in the first quarter. Delta Investment Management LLC now owns 14,265 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,145,000 after purchasing an additional 133 shares in the last quarter. Ignite Planners LLC increased its stake in shares of MetLife by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. Ignite Planners LLC now owns 6,366 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $491,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Glenview Trust co raised its position in shares of MetLife by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Glenview Trust co now owns 38,333 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,078,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. lifted its stake in MetLife by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 14,902 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,198,000 after buying an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. 94.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MET has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on MetLife from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of MetLife from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of MetLife from $93.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on shares of MetLife from $94.00 to $92.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of MetLife in a research report on Saturday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MetLife presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $95.18.

MetLife Price Performance

MET opened at $78.71 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $80.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $78.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a current ratio of 0.16. MetLife, Inc. has a 1 year low of $65.21 and a 1 year high of $89.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $52.34 billion, a PE ratio of 13.34, a P/E/G ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.86.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.32 by ($0.30). The company had revenue of $17.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.58 billion. MetLife had a return on equity of 19.88% and a net margin of 5.83%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.28 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 EPS for the current year.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 9th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 4th will be given a dividend of $0.5675 per share. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 4th. MetLife’s payout ratio is 38.47%.

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.