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

MetLife (NYSE:MET) had its price objective decreased by Wells Fargo & Company from $97.00 to $93.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on MET. Barclays set a $90.00 price objective on MetLife in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of MetLife from $92.00 to $90.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 11th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of MetLife from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Mizuho set a $100.00 price objective on shares of MetLife in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Evercore set a $95.00 target price on shares of MetLife in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $94.91.

MetLife Price Performance

Shares of MET opened at $75.30 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 moving average price of $78.32 and a 200-day moving average price of $78.93. MetLife has a fifty-two week low of $65.21 and a fifty-two week high of $87.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $49.10 billion, a PE ratio of 16.02, a PEG ratio of 0.69 and a beta of 0.77.

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

MetLife Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.5675 per share. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 3rd. MetLife’s payout ratio is presently 48.30%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MetLife

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in MetLife by 12.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 72,555,335 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,727,518,000 after buying an additional 7,805,814 shares during the period. Dodge & Cox increased its stake in shares of MetLife by 0.9% in the third quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 53,659,664 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,419,947,000 after acquiring an additional 477,783 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of MetLife by 1.5% during the third 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 during the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its position 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 purchasing an additional 2,211,315 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in MetLife in the second quarter valued at $756,104,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.