Providence Capital Advisors LLC Acquires 2,400 Shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Providence Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 3.0% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 83,096 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,400 shares during the period. MetLife accounts for 1.3% of Providence Capital Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest position. Providence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in MetLife were worth $5,833,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp bought a new stake in shares of MetLife in the first quarter worth $7,012,000. National Bank of Canada FI raised its position in MetLife by 54.9% during the first quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 371,062 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,983,000 after acquiring an additional 131,538 shares in the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp raised its position in MetLife by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 2,005,738 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $132,641,000 after acquiring an additional 35,782 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in MetLife during the first quarter worth $1,053,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of MetLife by 2,313.7% in the first quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 104,877 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,772,000 after purchasing an additional 100,532 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.81% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MET has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of MetLife from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of MetLife from $99.00 to $96.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of MetLife from $86.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 8th. 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 increased their price objective on shares of MetLife from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $84.54.

MetLife Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE MET opened at $81.47 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $74.80 and a 200 day simple moving average of $72.71. The firm has a market cap of $57.94 billion, a PE ratio of 28.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 1.04. MetLife, Inc. has a 1 year low of $57.91 and a 1 year high of $81.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.16 and a quick ratio of 0.16.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $2.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.13 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $17.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.57 billion. MetLife had a net margin of 4.23% and a return on equity of 21.41%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.94 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that MetLife, Inc. will post 8.67 EPS for the current year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 6th were issued a dividend of $0.545 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 6th. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.68%. MetLife’s payout ratio is 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.