West Oak Capital LLC Acquires 19,452 Shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

West Oak Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 5,985.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 19,777 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 19,452 shares during the period. West Oak Capital LLC’s holdings in MetLife were worth $1,619,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. PFG Investments LLC boosted its holdings in MetLife by 8.9% in the third quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 6,360 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $525,000 after acquiring an additional 520 shares in the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new position in shares of MetLife during the third quarter worth approximately $2,960,000. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC acquired a new stake in MetLife in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,074,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in MetLife by 13.9% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 90,092 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,430,000 after purchasing an additional 11,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio raised its holdings in MetLife by 5.6% during the third quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 285,514 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $23,549,000 after buying an additional 15,251 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on MET. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of MetLife from $92.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Barclays boosted their price objective on MetLife from $90.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Piper Sandler raised their target price on MetLife from $85.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. TD Cowen upped their price target on MetLife from $97.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, StockNews.com cut MetLife from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MetLife currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $90.00.

MetLife Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MET traded down $2.52 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $80.30. The company had a trading volume of 3,814,624 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,099,501. MetLife, Inc. has a 52-week low of $64.61 and a 52-week high of $89.05. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $82.94 and its 200 day moving average price is $78.87. The company has a current ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The stock has a market cap of $55.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.19, a P/E/G ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.07.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.545 per share. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 4th. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.95%.

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.