Wells Fargo & Company Lowers MetLife (NYSE:MET) Price Target to $93.00

MetLife (NYSE:MET) had its price target reduced by equities research analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $97.00 to $93.00 in a research report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price objective indicates a potential upside of 22.50% from the stock’s previous close.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. UBS Group raised their target price on MetLife from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Barclays set a $90.00 price objective on shares of MetLife in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Evercore set a $95.00 target price on shares of MetLife in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. Morgan Stanley set a $101.00 price target on shares of MetLife and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of MetLife from $92.00 to $90.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, MetLife has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $94.91.

MetLife Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of MET opened at $75.92 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.20 and a current ratio of 0.20. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $78.21 and a 200-day simple moving average of $78.90. MetLife has a 52 week low of $65.21 and a 52 week high of $87.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $49.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.15, a P/E/G ratio of 0.69 and a beta of 0.77.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.34 by $0.15. MetLife had a return on equity of 21.81% and a net margin of 4.38%.The firm had revenue of $52.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $31.43 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.08 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 27.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that MetLife will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MET. Norges Bank bought a new position in MetLife in the 2nd quarter valued at $756,104,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of MetLife by 12.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 72,555,335 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,727,518,000 after buying an additional 7,805,814 shares during the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its position in MetLife by 22.9% during the 4th quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 11,883,338 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $938,071,000 after buying an additional 2,211,315 shares in the last quarter. ABN AMRO Bank N.V. acquired a new position in MetLife during the 2nd quarter worth about $178,669,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in MetLife by 105.3% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,305,620 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $271,424,000 after acquiring an additional 1,695,563 shares during the last quarter. 94.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About MetLife

MetLife, Inc is a global provider of insurance, annuities and employee benefit programs. Headquartered in New York City, the company offers a range of risk protection and retirement solutions to individuals, employers and institutional clients. Its core businesses include life insurance, group benefits, retirement products such as annuities, and supplemental health products including dental and disability coverage.

In addition to traditional life and group insurance, MetLife provides workplace benefits and voluntary products distributed through employer-sponsored programs.