Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. Increases Holdings in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 6.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 926,974 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 56,341 shares during the quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. owned about 0.13% of MetLife worth $76,207,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. CX Institutional lifted its stake in MetLife by 15.9% in the fourth quarter. CX Institutional now owns 68,005 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,568,000 after purchasing an additional 9,337 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of 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 worth $722,727,000 after acquiring an additional 4,606,748 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings 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 grew its position in MetLife by 1.7% in 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 purchased a new stake in MetLife in the fourth quarter worth $259,000. Institutional investors own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MET has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays cut their price target on shares of MetLife from $96.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of MetLife from $92.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on MetLife from $100.00 to $98.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. StockNews.com lowered MetLife from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on MetLife from $86.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MetLife has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $94.58.

MetLife Stock Performance

MET stock opened at $83.10 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a current ratio of 0.16. The firm has a market cap of $56.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.92, a PEG ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 1.04. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $83.44 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $82.80. MetLife, Inc. has a one year low of $67.30 and a one year high of $89.05.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last released its quarterly earnings results 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%. On average, equities analysts forecast that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 4th were paid a $0.545 dividend. This represents a $2.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 4th. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.