International Assets Investment Management LLC Purchases 250,402 Shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 678.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 287,311 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 250,402 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC’s holdings in MetLife were worth $19,000,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of MET. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd grew its holdings in shares of MetLife by 19.2% in the fourth quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 1,824,596 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $120,661,000 after purchasing an additional 293,925 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in MetLife by 9.9% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,664,012 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $176,304,000 after acquiring an additional 240,564 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of MetLife by 50.0% during the third quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 8,856 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $557,000 after acquiring an additional 2,952 shares during the period. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH raised its stake in shares of MetLife by 13.1% during the fourth quarter. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH now owns 742,302 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $49,088,000 after acquiring an additional 86,091 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Silverberg Bernstein Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MetLife in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,075,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.81% of the company’s stock.

MetLife Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of MET stock opened at $70.97 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $70.73 and its 200 day moving average price is $66.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.16 and a quick ratio of 0.16. MetLife, Inc. has a 1-year low of $48.95 and a 1-year high of $74.68. The company has a market cap of $51.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 1.04.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The financial services provider reported $1.93 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.95 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $18.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.07 billion. MetLife had a return on equity of 19.48% and a net margin of 2.36%. On average, research analysts expect that MetLife, Inc. will post 8.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other MetLife news, EVP Bill Pappas sold 27,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.27, for a total value of $1,951,290.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 57,768 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,174,893.36. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, EVP Bill Pappas sold 27,000 shares of MetLife stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.27, for a total transaction of $1,951,290.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 57,768 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,174,893.36. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Ramy Tadros sold 4,026 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.90, for a total value of $289,469.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 146,981 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,567,933.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.32% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on the company. UBS Group reduced their price objective on MetLife from $87.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 5th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on MetLife from $74.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of MetLife from $83.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of MetLife from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $70.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of MetLife from $82.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, MetLife currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $79.08.

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.