Empirical Finance LLC Has $1.80 Million Stock Holdings in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Empirical Finance LLC lowered its holdings in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 1.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 22,029 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 376 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in MetLife were worth $1,804,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in shares of MetLife by 11.5% in the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 11,607 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $950,000 after acquiring an additional 1,199 shares in the last quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. grew its holdings in MetLife by 7.1% in the fourth quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 208,926 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $17,107,000 after purchasing an additional 13,768 shares during the period. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in MetLife by 48.2% in the fourth quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,779 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $473,000 after purchasing an additional 1,880 shares in the last quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of MetLife by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 19,180 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,570,000 after purchasing an additional 535 shares during the period. Finally, Vest Financial LLC boosted its position in shares of MetLife by 18.5% during the 4th quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 15,654 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,282,000 after purchasing an additional 2,448 shares in the last quarter. 94.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on MetLife from $86.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on MetLife in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. They set a “market perform” rating and a $97.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of MetLife from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of MetLife from $96.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of MetLife from $97.00 to $99.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $91.08.

MetLife Trading Up 0.4 %

NYSE:MET opened at $83.99 on Monday. MetLife, Inc. has a 52 week low of $66.18 and a 52 week high of $89.05. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $83.72 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $80.83. The firm has a market cap of $58.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a current ratio of 0.16.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The financial services provider reported $2.08 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.13 by ($0.05). MetLife had a return on equity of 20.42% and a net margin of 6.19%. On average, equities analysts expect that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 4th will be given a dividend of $0.545 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 4th. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.60%. MetLife’s payout ratio is currently 36.52%.

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.