Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT Has $246,000 Position in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT grew its stake in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 5.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,501 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 166 shares during the period. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT’s holdings in MetLife were worth $246,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. GoalVest Advisory LLC raised its position in MetLife by 73.3% during the first quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 390 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. Bank & Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of MetLife during the 2nd quarter worth about $39,000. Rise Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of MetLife by 114.7% in the 1st quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 556 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 297 shares during the period. Crewe Advisors LLC lifted its stake in MetLife by 602.5% in the 2nd quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 562 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 482 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in MetLife by 72.6% during the second quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 568 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 239 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.81% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MET has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on MetLife from $86.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on MetLife from $86.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 19th. StockNews.com cut shares of MetLife from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of MetLife from $83.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on shares of MetLife from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $84.54.

MetLife Stock Performance

NYSE:MET opened at $80.85 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a current ratio of 0.16. MetLife, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $57.91 and a fifty-two week high of $81.39. The company has a market cap of $57.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.78, a PEG ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 1.04. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $74.66 and a 200-day moving average price of $72.62.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $2.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.13 by $0.15. MetLife had a net margin of 4.23% and a return on equity of 21.41%. The firm had revenue of $17.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.94 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that MetLife, Inc. will post 8.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 6th were paid a dividend of $0.545 per share. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 6th. MetLife’s payout ratio is presently 74.91%.

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.