Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. Purchases 13,768 Shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. increased its holdings in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 7.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 208,926 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,768 shares during the period. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.’s holdings in MetLife were worth $17,107,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Atomi Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in MetLife by 44.4% in the third quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,090 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $502,000 after acquiring an additional 1,873 shares during the period. CWM LLC grew its position in MetLife by 15.0% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 18,256 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,506,000 after purchasing an additional 2,383 shares during the last quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of MetLife by 12.0% during the third quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC now owns 3,785 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $312,000 after acquiring an additional 405 shares in the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital raised its stake in shares of MetLife by 2.5% in the third quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 9,313 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $773,000 after purchasing an additional 228 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in MetLife by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 6,756 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $557,000 after acquiring an additional 175 shares during the period. 94.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MET has been the topic of a number of research reports. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on MetLife in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $97.00 price target on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of MetLife from $86.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of MetLife from $93.00 to $92.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Barclays lowered their target price on MetLife from $96.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price target on MetLife from $97.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $91.08.

MetLife Stock Performance

NYSE:MET opened at $83.99 on Friday. MetLife, Inc. has a 12-month low of $66.18 and a 12-month high of $89.05. The company has a current ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $58.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.07, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.07. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $83.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $80.79.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The financial services provider reported $2.08 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.13 by ($0.05). MetLife had a return on equity of 20.42% and a net margin of 6.19%. Equities research analysts forecast that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 4th will be issued a $0.545 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 4th. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.60%. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.52%.

About MetLife

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.