Arkadios Wealth Advisors Grows Stock Position in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Arkadios Wealth Advisors boosted its stake in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET – Get Rating) by 10.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 33,408 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,152 shares during the quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors’ holdings in MetLife were worth $2,418,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in MetLife by 41.1% in the 3rd quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 20,165,769 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,225,676,000 after acquiring an additional 5,876,930 shares during the period. Nuveen Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of MetLife by 9.5% during the 3rd quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 6,714,845 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $408,128,000 after buying an additional 582,095 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in shares of MetLife by 92.5% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 5,264,670 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $319,989,000 after buying an additional 2,530,149 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its stake in shares of MetLife by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,234,652 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $328,685,000 after buying an additional 24,121 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of MetLife by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 4,744,940 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $297,935,000 after buying an additional 19,197 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.15% of the company’s stock.

MetLife Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MET traded down $2.82 during trading on Friday, hitting $54.87. 13,077,545 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,852,375. MetLife, Inc. has a 1-year low of $54.51 and a 1-year high of $77.36. The company has a market capitalization of $42.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.55 and a beta of 1.08. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $69.49 and its 200-day simple moving average is $69.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.13 and a current ratio of 0.13.

MetLife (NYSE:MET – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 1st. The financial services provider reported $1.55 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.74 by ($0.19). The company had revenue of $15.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.21 billion. MetLife had a return on equity of 15.64% and a net margin of 3.63%. MetLife’s quarterly revenue was down 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.17 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that MetLife, Inc. will post 8.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 7th were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 6th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.64%. MetLife’s payout ratio is 68.26%.

Insider Buying and Selling at MetLife

In other news, EVP Bill Pappas sold 11,345 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.96, for a total transaction of $816,386.20. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 46,231 shares in the company, valued at $3,326,782.76. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Bill Pappas sold 11,345 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.96, for a total transaction of $816,386.20. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 46,231 shares in the company, valued at $3,326,782.76. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Susan M. Podlogar sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.91, for a total value of $215,730.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 46,193 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,321,738.63. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 17,202 shares of company stock worth $1,234,849. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MET has been the subject of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on MetLife from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on MetLife from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered MetLife from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $80.00 to $78.00 in a research report on Monday, January 9th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on MetLife from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on MetLife in a research note on Thursday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $80.36.

About MetLife

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MetLife, Inc provides insurance and financial services to individual and institutional customers. It offers life insurance, annuities, automobile and homeowner’s insurance and retail banking services to individuals as well as group insurance, reinsurance and retirement and savings products and services.