MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) have been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen ratings firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eight have given a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $93.4167.

MET has been the subject of several research reports. Barclays set a $90.00 target price on MetLife in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of MetLife from $97.00 to $93.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a “moderate buy” rating and set a $87.00 price objective on shares of MetLife in a research report on Thursday. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of MetLife from $91.00 to $88.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of MetLife from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MetLife

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of MetLife by 12.1% during 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 purchasing an additional 7,805,814 shares during the last quarter. Dodge & Cox increased its stake in MetLife by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 53,659,664 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,419,947,000 after purchasing an additional 477,783 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in MetLife by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,572,807 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,035,622,000 after buying an additional 180,683 shares during the period. Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in MetLife by 22.9% during the fourth quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 11,883,338 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $938,071,000 after buying an additional 2,211,315 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of MetLife in the second quarter worth about $756,104,000. 94.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MetLife Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MET opened at $67.63 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $44.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.39, a PEG ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.20 and a quick ratio of 0.20. MetLife has a 12 month low of $65.21 and a 12 month high of $83.85. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $74.23 and its 200 day moving average price is $77.54.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $31.43 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.08 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 27.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that MetLife will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.5675 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 3rd. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.30%.

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.