Allstate Corp Acquires Shares of 17,606 MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Allstate Corp bought a new position in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 17,606 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,442,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in MetLife during the fourth quarter worth about $730,716,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of MetLife by 109.2% in the fourth 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 buying an additional 4,606,748 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB raised its stake in shares of MetLife by 76.0% in the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 3,466,808 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $283,862,000 after acquiring an additional 1,496,645 shares during the last quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI bought a new position in MetLife in the 3rd quarter valued at $91,771,000. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of MetLife by 256.6% during the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 948,223 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $78,209,000 after acquiring an additional 682,333 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of MetLife in a research report on Friday, March 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target 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. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of MetLife from $101.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of MetLife from $92.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on MetLife from $96.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, MetLife currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $94.58.

MetLife Stock Down 4.6 %

NYSE:MET opened at $79.19 on Monday. MetLife, Inc. has a 1 year low of $67.30 and a 1 year high of $89.05. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $83.29 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $82.94. The stock has a market cap of $53.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.27, a PEG ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a current ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The financial services provider reported $2.08 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. As a group, equities analysts expect that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 4th were issued a dividend of $0.545 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 4th. This represents a $2.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.75%. MetLife’s payout ratio is 36.52%.

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.