MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) Receives Consensus Rating of “Buy” from Analysts

by · The Markets Daily

Shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET – Get Free Report) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the thirteen analysts that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $95.7273.

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective 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. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of MetLife from $96.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Morgan Stanley set a $101.00 price target on shares of MetLife and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 15th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on MetLife from $92.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Wolfe Research raised MetLife to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 16th.

View Our Latest Report on MetLife

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Allworth Financial LP boosted its stake in shares of MetLife by 13.4% in the second quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 10,893 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $876,000 after purchasing an additional 1,285 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in MetLife by 188.1% in the 2nd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 417,515 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $33,577,000 after buying an additional 272,619 shares in the last quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in MetLife by 88.2% in the 2nd quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 6,328 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $509,000 after buying an additional 2,965 shares in the last quarter. McElhenny Sheffield Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in MetLife in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,608,000. Finally, Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI acquired a new stake in shares of MetLife during the first quarter valued at about $12,060,000. 94.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MetLife Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of MetLife stock opened at $80.93 on Friday. MetLife has a fifty-two week low of $65.21 and a fifty-two week high of $88.09. The business’s fifty day moving average is $78.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $78.91. 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 firm has a market cap of $53.32 billion, a PE ratio of 15.24, a P/E/G ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.76.

MetLife (NYSE:MET – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 5th. The financial services provider reported $2.37 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.07. MetLife had a return on equity of 21.00% and a net margin of 5.30%.The business had revenue of $12.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.64 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.95 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that MetLife will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current year.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

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

MetLife Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.

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