MetLife (NYSE:MET) Sets New 1-Year High After Analyst Upgrade

MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Friday after Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on the stock from $86.00 to $92.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the stock. MetLife traded as high as $85.44 and last traded at $85.03, with a volume of 41241 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $84.03.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of MetLife from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of MetLife from $86.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of MetLife from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Bank of America dropped their target price on MetLife from $99.00 to $96.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on MetLife from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $88.46.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MetLife

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Creative Planning increased its holdings in shares of MetLife by 3.1% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 130,967 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $10,802,000 after purchasing an additional 3,964 shares during the period. CX Institutional boosted its position in shares of MetLife by 703.9% in the 3rd quarter. CX Institutional now owns 58,668 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,839,000 after buying an additional 51,370 shares in the last quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of MetLife by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 26,499 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,186,000 after purchasing an additional 836 shares in the last quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. boosted its stake in shares of MetLife by 54.5% during the third quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 757 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $62,000 after acquiring an additional 267 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sunflower Bank N.A. grew its holdings in shares of MetLife by 9.9% during the third quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. now owns 3,380 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $279,000 after buying an additional 304 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.81% of the company’s stock.

MetLife Price Performance

The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $76.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $73.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a current ratio of 0.16. The company has a market capitalization of $59.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.65, a P/E/G ratio of 0.69 and a beta of 1.04.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $2.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.13 by $0.15. MetLife had a return on equity of 21.41% and a net margin of 4.23%. The business had revenue of $17.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.94 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that MetLife, Inc. will post 8.61 earnings per share for the current year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.545 per share. This represents a $2.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 5th. MetLife’s payout ratio is 58.76%.

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.