Chesley Taft & Associates LLC Boosts Holdings in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Chesley Taft & Associates LLC lifted its stake in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 1.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 17,848 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 218 shares during the period. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC’s holdings in MetLife were worth $1,461,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. PFG Investments LLC increased its stake in MetLife by 8.9% during the 3rd quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 6,360 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $525,000 after buying an additional 520 shares in the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new stake in shares of MetLife in the third quarter worth approximately $2,960,000. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MetLife during the third quarter worth approximately $1,074,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in MetLife by 48,101.4% in the 3rd quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 106,043 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,746,000 after purchasing an additional 105,823 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lifted its holdings in MetLife by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 285,514 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $23,549,000 after purchasing an additional 15,251 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on MET. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of MetLife from $86.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of MetLife from $93.00 to $92.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com lowered shares of MetLife from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. TD Cowen upped their price target on MetLife from $97.00 to $99.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on MetLife from $90.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, MetLife presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $89.92.

MetLife Stock Performance

Shares of MetLife stock opened at $86.88 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $83.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $79.66. The company has a quick ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The firm has a market cap of $60.16 billion, a PE ratio of 17.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.07. MetLife, Inc. has a 52 week low of $64.61 and a 52 week high of $89.05.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.545 per share. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 4th. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.95%.

MetLife Company 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.