Ritholtz Wealth Management Purchases Shares of 2,594 MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Ritholtz Wealth Management acquired a new position in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 2,594 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $214,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in MetLife by 3.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,622,348 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,418,612,000 after acquiring an additional 1,974,268 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of MetLife in the 1st quarter worth about $131,456,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of MetLife by 7,837.0% during the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,129,353 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $79,250,000 after purchasing an additional 1,115,124 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of MetLife by 22.4% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,396,274 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $378,799,000 after buying an additional 988,666 shares during the period. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. raised its stake in MetLife by 29.7% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 2,120,275 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $157,133,000 after buying an additional 485,811 shares in the last quarter. 89.81% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MetLife Stock Performance

Shares of MET stock opened at $85.69 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $78.22 and a 200-day moving average price of $74.04. MetLife, Inc. has a 52 week low of $57.91 and a 52 week high of $86.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $60.94 billion, a PE ratio of 29.45, a P/E/G ratio of 0.69 and a beta of 1.04.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $2.28 earnings per share 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.94 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that MetLife, Inc. will post 8.61 earnings per share for the current year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.545 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 5th. This represents a $2.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.54%. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio is currently 74.91%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on MET shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on MetLife from $86.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of MetLife from $99.00 to $96.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 1st. TD Cowen assumed coverage on MetLife in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. They set a “buy” rating and a $97.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on MetLife from $86.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 19th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on MetLife from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $88.46.

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.