MetLife (NYSE:MET) Research Coverage Started at TD Cowen

TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of MetLife (NYSE:MET) in a report released on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage issued a buy rating and a $97.00 price objective on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on MET. Piper Sandler raised their price target on MetLife from $85.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on MetLife from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on MetLife from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Citigroup raised their price target on MetLife from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on MetLife from $86.00 to $85.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $88.46.

MetLife Stock Up 1.8 %

MetLife stock opened at $85.51 on Wednesday. MetLife has a twelve month low of $57.91 and a twelve month high of $85.97. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $76.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $73.71. The company has a current ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $59.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.05, a P/E/G ratio of 0.69 and a beta of 1.04.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $2.28 EPS 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 firm had revenue of $17.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.57 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.94 earnings per share. MetLife’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that MetLife will post 8.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The business 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 dividend yield of 2.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 5th. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio is currently 58.76%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MetLife

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MET. Schroder Investment Management Group boosted its holdings in MetLife by 115.2% in the 4th quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 243,051 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $16,073,000 after purchasing an additional 130,093 shares in the last quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in MetLife in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $464,000. Ethic Inc. boosted its holdings in MetLife by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 112,569 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,444,000 after purchasing an additional 4,371 shares in the last quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in MetLife by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC now owns 18,288 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,209,000 after purchasing an additional 783 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in MetLife in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $13,319,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.81% of the company’s stock.

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.