Kovack Advisors Inc. Acquires 1,003 Shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Kovack Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 31.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,199 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,003 shares during the quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc.’s holdings in MetLife were worth $278,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MET. Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its position in MetLife by 118.1% during the 3rd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 10,108,992 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $635,957,000 after buying an additional 5,474,449 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of MetLife by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,440,583 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $468,087,000 after buying an additional 276,364 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in MetLife by 0.3% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,829,965 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $366,763,000 after acquiring an additional 17,375 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in MetLife by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,774,122 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $237,430,000 after purchasing an additional 22,031 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of MetLife by 15.3% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,724,805 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $234,327,000 after purchasing an additional 495,027 shares in the last quarter. 89.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on MET shares. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on MetLife from $74.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on MetLife from $83.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of MetLife from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $70.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on MetLife from $82.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on MetLife from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $79.23.

Insider Activity at MetLife

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

MetLife Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of NYSE MET opened at $71.70 on Tuesday. MetLife, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $48.95 and a fifty-two week high of $74.68. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $71.50 and its 200-day moving average price is $67.28. The company has a market cap of $51.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.18, a PEG ratio of 0.53 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a current ratio of 0.16.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 31st. The financial services provider reported $1.93 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.95 by ($0.02). MetLife had a net margin of 2.36% and a return on equity of 19.48%. The business had revenue of $18.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.07 billion. On average, sell-side analysts expect that MetLife, Inc. will post 8.71 earnings per share for the current year.

MetLife Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.545 per share. This is a positive change from MetLife’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 6th. This represents a $2.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.04%. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio is presently 113.66%.

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.