MetLife’s (MET) “Outperform” Rating Reaffirmed at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued their outperform rating on shares of MetLife (NYSE:MET) in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $87.00 price target on the financial services provider’s stock.

MET has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of MetLife from $97.00 to $93.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of MetLife from $101.00 to $93.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Mizuho set a $100.00 price objective on shares of MetLife in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of MetLife from $91.00 to $88.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. Finally, Barclays set a $90.00 target price on shares of MetLife in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $93.42.

MetLife Stock Performance

Shares of MET opened at $69.62 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 0.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $74.42 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $77.64. The stock has a market cap of $45.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.81, a PEG ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 0.76. MetLife has a 52 week low of $65.21 and a 52 week high of $84.08.

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

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 3rd were paid a $0.5675 dividend. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 3rd. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.30%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MetLife

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position 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 worth $5,727,518,000 after acquiring an additional 7,805,814 shares during the last quarter. Dodge & Cox increased its holdings in MetLife by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 53,659,664 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,419,947,000 after acquiring an additional 477,783 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in MetLife by 1.5% in 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 purchasing an additional 180,683 shares in the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in MetLife by 22.9% in 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 purchasing an additional 2,211,315 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of MetLife during the 2nd quarter valued at about $756,104,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

MetLife Company Profile

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.