Jacobi Capital Management LLC Has $1.41 Million Stock Position in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Jacobi Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 15.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,169 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,295 shares during the quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC’s holdings in MetLife were worth $1,406,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MET. Swedbank AB increased its position in shares of MetLife by 5.3% during the 3rd 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. US Bancorp DE increased its position in MetLife by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 107,634 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,878,000 after acquiring an additional 2,173 shares in the last quarter. Affinity Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in MetLife by 23.2% in the 3rd quarter. Affinity Investment Advisors LLC now owns 18,981 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,566,000 after acquiring an additional 3,576 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position in MetLife by 19.6% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 10,840 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $894,000 after acquiring an additional 1,774 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC acquired a new stake in MetLife in the 3rd quarter valued at about $233,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MET has been the subject of several research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of MetLife from $100.00 to $98.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on shares of MetLife in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $97.00 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of MetLife from $86.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective 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, 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 report on Friday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, MetLife has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $94.58.

MetLife Stock Up 2.5 %

Shares of NYSE MET opened at $86.16 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $83.65 and its 200-day moving average is $81.91. MetLife, Inc. has a 1 year low of $67.30 and a 1 year high of $89.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $58.69 billion, a PE ratio of 14.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 1.07. 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 released its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 20.42% and a net margin of 6.19%. Equities analysts expect that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 EPS for the current year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.545 per share. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 4th. 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.