Arete Wealth Advisors LLC Invests $944,000 in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Sep 15th, 2023

Arete Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET – Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 16,297 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $944,000.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Border to Coast Pensions Partnership Ltd increased its stake in MetLife by 20.2% during the 1st quarter. Border to Coast Pensions Partnership Ltd now owns 316,867 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $18,359,000 after purchasing an additional 53,266 shares in the last quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its stake in MetLife by 7.1% during the 1st quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 18,754 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $816,000 after purchasing an additional 1,250 shares in the last quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC increased its stake in MetLife by 4.2% during the 1st quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 51,162 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,964,000 after purchasing an additional 2,085 shares in the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. increased its stake in MetLife by 6.4% during the 1st quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 374,110 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $21,675,000 after purchasing an additional 22,343 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Providence Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in MetLife by 5,693.8% during the 1st quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 5,562 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $96,000 after purchasing an additional 5,466 shares in the last quarter. 88.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MetLife Trading Up 3.4 %

Shares of MetLife stock opened at $65.93 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $61.95 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $58.84. MetLife, Inc. has a 1 year low of $48.95 and a 1 year high of $77.36. The company has a market capitalization of $49.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.65, a P/E/G ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.13 and a quick ratio of 0.13.

MetLife (NYSE:MET – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 2nd. The financial services provider reported $1.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.09. MetLife had a return on equity of 17.42% and a net margin of 3.14%. The business had revenue of $16.62 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.91 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.00 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that MetLife, Inc. will post 7.78 EPS for the current year.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 8th were issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 7th. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio is 80.93%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MET has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on MetLife from $82.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 15th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of MetLife from $78.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 18th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of MetLife from $70.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 4th. TheStreet raised shares of MetLife from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of MetLife from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $58.00 to $72.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $76.40.

View Our Latest Stock Analysis on MetLife

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other MetLife news, EVP Marlene Debel sold 9,391 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.18, for a total transaction of $593,323.38. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 77,638 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,905,168.84. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

About MetLife

(Free Report)

MetLife, Inc, a financial services company, provides insurance, annuities, employee benefits, and asset management services worldwide. It operates through five segments: U.S.; 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.