J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. Has $488,000 Stock Holdings in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 3.1% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 5,918 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 178 shares during the quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.’s holdings in MetLife were worth $488,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Abacus Planning Group Inc. increased its position in MetLife by 1.0% in the third quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. now owns 12,301 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,015,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares during the period. Financial Management Professionals Inc. increased its position in MetLife by 2.0% in the third quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. now owns 6,984 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $576,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the period. Ameliora Wealth Management Ltd. increased its position in MetLife by 1.7% in the third quarter. Ameliora Wealth Management Ltd. now owns 8,548 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $705,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares during the period. Greenleaf Trust increased its position in MetLife by 0.4% in the third quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 31,393 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,589,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares during the period. Finally, Forum Financial Management LP increased its position in MetLife by 1.0% in the second quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 13,729 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $964,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares during the period. 89.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on MET. Citigroup lifted their price objective on MetLife from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Bank of America reduced their target price on MetLife from $99.00 to $96.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Morgan Stanley reduced 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. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on MetLife from $86.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on MetLife from $86.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MetLife has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $88.46.

MetLife Trading Up 0.5 %

NYSE:MET opened at $83.22 on Thursday. MetLife, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $58.89 and a fifty-two week high of $86.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.16 and a quick ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $58.28 billion, a PE ratio of 22.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.04. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $80.41 and its 200-day simple moving average is $74.75.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $2.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.13 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $17.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.57 billion. MetLife had a return on equity of 21.41% and a net margin of 4.23%. MetLife’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.94 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that MetLife, Inc. will post 8.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 5th will be paid a $0.545 dividend. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.62%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 5th. MetLife’s payout ratio is 58.76%.

MetLife 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.