Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. Purchases 270 Shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. increased its position in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 1.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 18,540 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 270 shares during the quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc.’s holdings in MetLife were worth $1,226,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bfsg LLC purchased a new position in shares of MetLife in the fourth quarter worth $202,000. GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new position in shares of MetLife in the fourth quarter worth $235,000. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in shares of MetLife by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 26,517 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,754,000 after buying an additional 1,173 shares during the period. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust increased its stake in shares of MetLife by 10.4% in the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 2,799 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $185,000 after buying an additional 263 shares during the period. Finally, Wedge Capital Management L L P NC increased its stake in shares of MetLife by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 572,751 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $37,876,000 after buying an additional 21,063 shares during the period. 89.81% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MetLife Stock Performance

Shares of MetLife stock opened at $71.87 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $51.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.27, a PEG ratio of 0.54 and a beta of 1.04. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $71.61 and its 200 day moving average is $67.38. MetLife, Inc. has a 1 year low of $48.95 and a 1 year high of $74.68. 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 (NYSE:MET) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The financial services provider reported $1.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.95 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $18.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.07 billion. MetLife had a return on equity of 19.48% and a net margin of 2.36%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that MetLife, Inc. will post 8.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 7th will be paid a $0.545 dividend. This is a boost from MetLife’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 6th. This represents a $2.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.03%. MetLife’s payout ratio is presently 113.66%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Insider Buying and Selling

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

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.