MetLife (NYSE:MET) Upgraded at Mizuho

Mizuho upgraded shares of MetLife (NYSE:MET) to a strong-buy rating in a report issued on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Morgan Stanley set a $101.00 price objective on MetLife and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of MetLife in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. Piper Sandler lowered MetLife from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $84.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Friday, September 19th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of MetLife to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 16th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of MetLife in a research note on Monday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $95.55.

MetLife Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of NYSE:MET opened at $82.55 on Monday. MetLife has a 12 month low of $65.21 and a 12 month high of $88.09. The firm has a market cap of $54.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.55, a P/E/G ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a quick ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 0.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $78.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $78.84.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The financial services provider reported $2.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $12.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.64 billion. MetLife had a net margin of 5.30% and a return on equity of 21.00%. MetLife’s quarterly revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.95 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that MetLife will post 9.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 9th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 4th were paid a dividend of $0.5675 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 4th. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.75%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MetLife

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of MetLife in the 2nd quarter valued at $756,104,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in MetLife by 13.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,749,521 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,333,418,000 after acquiring an additional 7,578,199 shares during the period. ABN AMRO Bank N.V. bought a new stake in shares of MetLife in the second quarter worth about $178,669,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of MetLife by 7.4% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 26,488,146 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,126,734,000 after purchasing an additional 1,824,907 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $271,424,000 after purchasing an additional 1,695,563 shares in the last quarter. 94.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About MetLife

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.