SG Americas Securities LLC Increases Stake in MetLife, Inc. $MET

SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 13,486.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 220,233 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 218,612 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in MetLife were worth $17,385,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Providence Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in MetLife in the third quarter worth $6,649,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its position in shares of MetLife by 188.1% during the 2nd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 417,515 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $33,577,000 after purchasing an additional 272,619 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its stake in shares of MetLife by 8.9% during the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,176,469 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $96,905,000 after purchasing an additional 96,523 shares during the period. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co increased its holdings in shares of MetLife by 21.9% in the 3rd quarter. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 137,956 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $11,363,000 after purchasing an additional 24,800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in shares of MetLife by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,630,165 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $366,524,000 after purchasing an additional 117,545 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Mizuho set a $100.00 price objective on shares of MetLife in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of MetLife from $97.00 to $93.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. Weiss Ratings cut MetLife from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Monday, March 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “moderate buy” rating and issued a $87.00 price objective on shares of MetLife in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Evercore set a $95.00 price objective on MetLife in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, MetLife presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $93.42.

MetLife Stock Performance

NYSE:MET opened at $67.63 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 0.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The company has a market capitalization of $44.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 0.76. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $74.23 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $77.55. MetLife, Inc. has a twelve month low of $65.21 and a twelve month high of $83.85.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.34 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $52.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $31.43 billion. MetLife had a return on equity of 21.81% and a net margin of 4.38%.MetLife’s revenue was up 27.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.08 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.5675 per share. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 3rd. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.30%.

MetLife Profile

MetLife, Inc is a global provider of insurance, annuities and employee benefit programs. Headquartered in New York City, the company offers a range of risk protection and retirement solutions to individuals, employers and institutional clients. Its core businesses include life insurance, group benefits, retirement products such as annuities, and supplemental health products including dental and disability coverage.

In addition to traditional life and group insurance, MetLife provides workplace benefits and voluntary products distributed through employer-sponsored programs.