NorthRock Partners LLC Boosts Holdings in MetLife, Inc. $MET

NorthRock Partners LLC lifted its stake in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 32.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,751 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,366 shares during the period. NorthRock Partners LLC’s holdings in MetLife were worth $784,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in MetLife by 9.0% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 4,240 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $347,000 after acquiring an additional 351 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in MetLife by 10.7% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 10,162 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $816,000 after acquiring an additional 984 shares during the period. Ritholtz Wealth Management lifted its position in MetLife by 52.1% during the 1st quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 9,355 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $751,000 after acquiring an additional 3,204 shares during the period. Sound Income Strategies LLC lifted its position in MetLife by 118.0% during the 1st quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 1,225 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $98,000 after acquiring an additional 663 shares during the period. Finally, Montecito Bank & Trust lifted its position in MetLife by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Montecito Bank & Trust now owns 8,917 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $716,000 after acquiring an additional 252 shares during the period. 94.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

MetLife Stock Performance

Shares of MET stock opened at $82.90 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $79.96 and a 200-day moving average price of $78.13. MetLife, Inc. has a 52 week low of $65.21 and a 52 week high of $89.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $55.13 billion, a PE ratio of 14.05, a P/E/G ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a quick ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.32 by ($0.30). The company had revenue of $17.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.58 billion. MetLife had a return on equity of 19.88% and a net margin of 5.83%.The business’s revenue was down 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.28 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect 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 will be paid on Tuesday, December 9th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 4th will be issued a $0.5675 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 4th. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.47%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MET. Wolfe Research raised shares of MetLife to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 16th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of MetLife in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of MetLife in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of MetLife from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, MetLife currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $95.18.

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.