Montecito Bank & Trust Takes $827,000 Position in MetLife, Inc. $MET

Montecito Bank & Trust bought a new position in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 10,042 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $827,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Quaker Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of MetLife by 198.2% during the 2nd quarter. Quaker Wealth Management LLC now owns 333 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 672 shares during the last quarter. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in MetLife during the second quarter valued at approximately $35,000. MTM Investment Management LLC bought a new position in MetLife in the second quarter valued at approximately $37,000. GFG Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of MetLife during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $38,000. Finally, Abound Wealth Management increased its position in shares of MetLife by 652.3% during the 2nd quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 489 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 424 shares during the last quarter. 94.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on MET shares. UBS Group cut their price objective on MetLife from $96.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 6th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of MetLife in a research report on Monday. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of MetLife from $93.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on shares of MetLife from $92.00 to $90.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised MetLife to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, MetLife has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $95.55.

MetLife Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of MET opened at $81.70 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $53.83 billion, a PE ratio of 15.39, a P/E/G ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a current ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 0.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $78.47 and its 200-day moving average is $78.86. MetLife, Inc. has a 12 month low of $65.21 and a 12 month high of $88.09.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The financial services provider reported $2.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.07. MetLife had a net margin of 5.30% and a return on equity of 21.00%. The company had revenue of $12.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.95 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 EPS for the current year.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 9th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 4th were given a dividend of $0.5675 per share. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 4th. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.75%.

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.