MetLife (NYSE:MET) PT Raised to $92.00 at Wells Fargo & Company

MetLife (NYSE:MET) had its price objective upped by Wells Fargo & Company from $86.00 to $92.00 in a research note published on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on the company. TD Cowen assumed coverage on MetLife in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. They issued a buy rating and a $97.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com cut MetLife from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on MetLife from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Citigroup lifted their target price on MetLife from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, 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 report on Thursday, August 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $88.46.

MetLife Stock Performance

NYSE:MET opened at $85.51 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.16 and a quick ratio of 0.16. MetLife has a 1 year low of $57.91 and a 1 year high of $85.97. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $76.87 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $73.71. The company has a market cap of $60.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.38, a PEG 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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $18.57 billion. During the same quarter 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, equities analysts anticipate that MetLife will post 8.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 5th will be issued a $0.545 dividend. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.55%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 5th. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio is 74.91%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MetLife

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MET. Bayesian Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in shares of MetLife by 836.1% in the 4th quarter. Bayesian Capital Management LP now owns 55,231 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,652,000 after buying an additional 49,331 shares during the period. Groupama Asset Managment bought a new position in shares of MetLife in the 4th quarter worth $28,425,000. DRW Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of MetLife in the 4th quarter worth $1,643,000. Napa Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of MetLife in the 4th quarter worth $2,716,000. Finally, Integrated Advisors Network LLC raised its position in shares of MetLife by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC now owns 3,963 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $262,000 after acquiring an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. 89.81% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MetLife Company Profile

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.