Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Buys 419 Shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P boosted its stake in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 45.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,341 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 419 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P’s holdings in MetLife were worth $110,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MET. CX Institutional increased its holdings in shares of MetLife by 15.9% during the fourth quarter. CX Institutional now owns 68,005 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,568,000 after acquiring an additional 9,337 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in MetLife by 109.2% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,826,658 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $722,727,000 after buying an additional 4,606,748 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in MetLife by 27.3% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 13,692 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,116,000 after acquiring an additional 2,940 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its holdings in shares of MetLife by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 776,244 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $63,559,000 after acquiring an additional 12,723 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of MetLife in the fourth quarter worth approximately $259,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MET has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays cut their target price on shares of MetLife from $96.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on MetLife from $101.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on MetLife from $100.00 to $98.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of MetLife from $92.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets began coverage on MetLife in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $97.00 target price on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, MetLife currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $94.58.

MetLife Trading Down 4.6 %

Shares of MET stock opened at $79.19 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $83.29 and its 200-day moving average price is $82.94. MetLife, Inc. has a 12-month low of $67.30 and a 12-month high of $89.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $53.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a current ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The financial services provider reported $2.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.13 by ($0.05). MetLife had a return on equity of 20.42% and a net margin of 6.19%. Equities research analysts predict that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 4th were given a dividend of $0.545 per share. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 4th. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio is 36.52%.

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.