Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd Takes $319,000 Position in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd bought a new stake in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 3,895 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $319,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CX Institutional boosted its stake in MetLife by 15.9% during the 4th quarter. CX Institutional now owns 68,005 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,568,000 after purchasing an additional 9,337 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in MetLife by 109.2% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,826,658 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $722,727,000 after purchasing an additional 4,606,748 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted 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 purchasing an additional 2,940 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 12,723 shares during the period. Finally, Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC bought a new stake in MetLife during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,074,000. Institutional investors own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on MetLife from $92.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. StockNews.com downgraded MetLife from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on MetLife from $86.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on MetLife from $100.00 to $98.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on MetLife from $101.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, MetLife presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $94.58.

MetLife Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of MetLife stock opened at $82.33 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. MetLife, Inc. has a 12 month low of $67.30 and a 12 month high of $89.05. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $83.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $82.60. The stock has a market cap of $56.09 billion, a PE ratio of 13.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 1.04.

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

MetLife Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 4th were issued a dividend of $0.545 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 4th. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.65%. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.52%.

MetLife Profile

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.