Quent Long Short Global Small Cap Fund LP Invests $568,000 in MetLife, Inc. $MET

Quent Long Short Global Small Cap Fund LP acquired a new stake in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 7,193 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $568,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MET. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of MetLife by 13.3% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,749,521 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,333,418,000 after buying an additional 7,578,199 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in MetLife by 105.3% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,305,620 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $271,424,000 after buying an additional 1,695,563 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings in MetLife by 173.4% during the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,641,253 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $135,190,000 after acquiring an additional 1,040,894 shares during the period. Man Group plc raised its holdings in MetLife by 325.5% during the 2nd quarter. Man Group plc now owns 1,344,551 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $108,129,000 after acquiring an additional 1,028,554 shares during the period. Finally, Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI purchased a new stake in shares of MetLife during the third quarter worth $83,779,000. 94.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MetLife Trading Up 2.1%

MetLife stock opened at $77.66 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.20 and a current ratio of 0.20. MetLife, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $67.33 and a fifty-two week high of $83.85. The stock has a market cap of $50.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.52, a PEG ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 0.74. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $73.10 and its 200-day moving average price is $76.68.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.34 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $52.44 billion during 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%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 27.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.08 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MET has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded MetLife from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 11th. UBS Group increased their price objective on MetLife from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Mizuho cut their target price on MetLife from $100.00 to $93.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Bank of America decreased their price target on MetLife from $103.00 to $99.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Finally, Evercore set a $96.00 price target on shares of MetLife in a report on Thursday, April 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $93.38.

About MetLife

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.