Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Increases Position in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its holdings in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 3.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 525,090 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 17,727 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC’s holdings in MetLife were worth $42,994,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI purchased a new position in MetLife during the third quarter valued at $91,771,000. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. raised its position in shares of MetLife by 79.1% in the 3rd quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 1,726,209 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $142,378,000 after purchasing an additional 762,291 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its stake in MetLife by 256.6% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 948,223 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $78,209,000 after purchasing an additional 682,333 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in MetLife by 16.8% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,238,087 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $347,735,000 after purchasing an additional 608,224 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in MetLife by 107.5% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 30,542 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,501,000 after purchasing an additional 435,807 shares in the last quarter. 94.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MET has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com cut shares of MetLife from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on MetLife from $89.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on MetLife from $97.00 to $99.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on MetLife from $93.00 to $92.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on shares of MetLife in a report on Thursday. They set a “market perform” rating and a $97.00 price target on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $90.46.

MetLife Price Performance

NYSE MET opened at $86.82 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $60.11 billion, a PE ratio of 17.50, a P/E/G ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.07. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $83.68 and its 200-day moving average price is $79.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a current ratio of 0.16. MetLife, Inc. has a 52-week low of $64.61 and a 52-week high of $89.05.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 4th will be given a dividend of $0.545 per share. This represents a $2.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 4th. MetLife’s payout ratio is presently 43.95%.

About MetLife

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.