MetLife, Inc. MET announced that MetLife Investment Management (“MIM”) agreed to acquire three investment teams from Mesirow — a prominent employee-owned financial services firm, adding $6 billion in assets under management to its portfolio.

This acquisition aligns with MetLife’s New Frontier strategy to expand its asset management capabilities and underscores MIM’s commitment to providing comprehensive investment solutions. The addition of high-yield, strategic fixed-income and small-cap equity teams enhances MIM’s existing offerings and expertise in higher-yield strategies. With this acquisition, MIM strengthens its competitive edge in the institutional investment management sector.

The move also complements MIM’s broader initiative to develop its leveraged finance platform. By integrating Mesirow's high-yield and bank loan strategies, MIM can offer a diversified range of products tailored to various risk-return profiles. This acquisition follows MIM’s recent announcement of acquiring assets from PineBridge Investments, signaling its commitment to sustained growth through expansion.

The transaction, which included 20 seasoned investment professionals from Mesirow, enhances MIM’s talent pool — a key driver for delivering strong investment performance. The added expertise, combined with MIM’s robust distribution network, positions the firm to capture growth opportunities in institutional asset management.

Asset management companies face intense competition due to evolving client needs and increased regulations, pushing them to strengthen their positions through expansion. Moves like this are expected to enhance its product offerings and attract a large customer base.

MET’s Price Performance

The company’s shares have gained 15.6% in the past six months, outperforming 3.2% growth of the industry.

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MetLife’s Zacks Rank

MET currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Stocks to Consider

Some better-ranked stocks in the insurance space are United Fire Group, Inc. UFCS, CNO Financial Group, Inc. CNO and Primerica, Inc. PRI. United Fire Group and CNO Financial sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) at present, and Primerica carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

The bottom line of United Fire Group outpaced estimates in three of the trailing four quarters and missed the mark once, the average surprise being 58.79%.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for UFCS’s 2024 earnings is pegged at $1.84 per share. A loss of $1.22 per share was incurred in the prior year. The consensus mark for revenues indicates 13.9% year-over-year growth. The consensus mark for United Fire Group’s 2024 earnings has moved 67.3% north in the past 60 days.

The bottom line of CNO Financial outpaced estimates in three of the trailing four quarters and missed once, the average surprise being 24.51%.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CNO’s 2024 earnings indicates 20.7% year-over-year growth. The Zacks Consensus estimate for 2024 revenues is pegged at $3.7 billion. The consensus mark for CNO Financial’s 2024 earnings has moved 2.8% north in the past 60 days.

Primerica’s earnings outpaced estimates in two of the trailing four quarters and missed the mark twice, the average surprise being 4.89%.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for PRI’s 2024 earnings indicates 20.2% year-over-year growth, whereas the same for revenues implies an improvement of 6.9%. The consensus mark for Primerica’s 2024 earnings has moved 6.7% north in the past 60 days.

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