Ameritas Advisory Services LLC Has $1.48 Million Stock Position in MetLife, Inc. $MET

Ameritas Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 1,261.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 18,803 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 17,422 shares during the quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in MetLife were worth $1,484,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in MET. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of MetLife by 12.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 72,555,335 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,727,518,000 after buying an additional 7,805,814 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of MetLife by 105.3% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,305,620 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $271,424,000 after buying an additional 1,695,563 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of MetLife by 173.4% during the third quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,641,253 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $135,190,000 after buying an additional 1,040,894 shares during the last quarter. Man Group plc lifted its position in shares of MetLife by 325.5% during the second quarter. Man Group plc now owns 1,344,551 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $108,129,000 after purchasing an additional 1,028,554 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab bought a new position in shares of MetLife during the fourth quarter valued at about $81,494,000. 94.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MET has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of MetLife from $101.00 to $93.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of MetLife from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Mizuho set a $95.00 price objective on shares of MetLife in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of MetLife from $87.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of MetLife from $89.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, MetLife currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $95.15.

MetLife Trading Up 1.3%

NYSE:MET opened at $79.09 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $73.78 and its 200 day moving average is $76.52. MetLife, Inc. has a 12 month low of $67.33 and a 12 month high of $83.85. The company has a current ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 0.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The stock has a market capitalization of $50.89 billion, a PE ratio of 15.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 0.78.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.15. MetLife had a net margin of 4.66% and a return on equity of 22.60%. The company had revenue of $14.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.49 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.96 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.92 earnings per share for the current year.

MetLife Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 9th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th will be given a $0.5925 dividend. This represents a $2.37 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. This is an increase from MetLife’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 12th. MetLife’s payout ratio is presently 45.93%.

MetLife Profile

MetLife, Inc is a global provider of insurance, annuities and employee benefit programs. Headquartered in New York City, the company offers a range of risk protection and retirement solutions to individuals, employers and institutional clients. Its core businesses include life insurance, group benefits, retirement products such as annuities, and supplemental health products including dental and disability coverage.

In addition to traditional life and group insurance, MetLife provides workplace benefits and voluntary products distributed through employer-sponsored programs.