Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. Invests $853,000 in MetLife, Inc. $MET

Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. acquired a new position in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 10,801 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $853,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MET. Activest Wealth Management boosted its holdings in shares of MetLife by 205.8% during the fourth quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 315 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 212 shares during the last quarter. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of MetLife by 790.0% during the third quarter. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 356 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 316 shares during the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC boosted its holdings in MetLife by 58.9% in the fourth quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 383 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 142 shares during the last quarter. Foster Dykema Cabot & Partners LLC acquired a new position in MetLife in the third quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Albion Financial Group UT acquired a new position in MetLife in the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on MET. Mizuho set a $95.00 target price on MetLife in a report on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings upgraded MetLife from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on MetLife from $87.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Bank of America reduced their target price on MetLife from $103.00 to $99.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their target price on MetLife from $91.00 to $88.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $95.31.

MetLife Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of MET opened at $84.61 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $77.84 and its two-hundred day moving average is $77.01. The stock has a market cap of $54.44 billion, a PE ratio of 16.40, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.78. MetLife, Inc. has a 12 month low of $67.33 and a 12 month high of $85.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.20 and a quick ratio of 0.20.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.42 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $14.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.49 billion. MetLife had a return on equity of 22.60% and a net margin of 4.66%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.96 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 9th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.5925 per share. This is a boost from MetLife’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 12th. MetLife’s payout ratio is presently 45.93%.

MetLife Company Profile

MetLife, Inc is a global provider of insurance, annuities and employee benefit programs. Headquartered in New York City, the company offers a range of risk protection and retirement solutions to individuals, employers and institutional clients. Its core businesses include life insurance, group benefits, retirement products such as annuities, and supplemental health products including dental and disability coverage.

In addition to traditional life and group insurance, MetLife provides workplace benefits and voluntary products distributed through employer-sponsored programs.