Wells Fargo & Company MN Acquires 12,799 Shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its holdings in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 0.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,651,944 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,799 shares during the quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN owned 0.24% of MetLife worth $135,261,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. United Asset Strategies Inc. boosted its position in MetLife by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. United Asset Strategies Inc. now owns 10,933 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $895,000 after buying an additional 120 shares during the period. Barrett & Company Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of MetLife by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Barrett & Company Inc. now owns 11,942 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $978,000 after purchasing an additional 121 shares during the period. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. grew its stake in MetLife by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 6,044 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $495,000 after purchasing an additional 126 shares in the last quarter. Davis R M Inc. increased its holdings in MetLife by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Davis R M Inc. now owns 3,148 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $258,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares during the period. Finally, Daymark Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in MetLife by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC now owns 5,091 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $417,000 after purchasing an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. 94.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MET has been the topic of several research reports. StockNews.com lowered MetLife from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of MetLife from $88.00 to $86.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of MetLife from $100.00 to $98.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Barclays dropped their target price on MetLife from $96.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price objective on MetLife from $92.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $94.85.

MetLife Trading Down 9.5 %

NYSE MET opened at $68.71 on Monday. MetLife, Inc. has a 12-month low of $67.30 and a 12-month high of $89.05. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $82.41 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $82.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The stock has a market cap of $46.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.51, a P/E/G ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 0.89.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The financial services provider reported $2.08 earnings per share (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, analysts forecast that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current year.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 4th were issued a $0.545 dividend. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 4th. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.52%.

About MetLife

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.