MetLife (NYSE:MET) Price Target Increased to $86.00 by Analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) had its price objective raised by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $81.00 to $86.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday 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 weighed in on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on MetLife from $87.00 to $86.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 7th. StockNews.com cut MetLife from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Monday. Argus upped their price target on MetLife from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on MetLife from $86.00 to $85.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their price target on MetLife from $85.00 to $82.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $80.23.

MetLife Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:MET opened at $70.04 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a current ratio of 0.16. MetLife has a 1 year low of $56.13 and a 1 year high of $74.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $49.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.11, a PEG ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 1.11. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $71.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $70.18.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The financial services provider reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83. MetLife had a return on equity of 20.39% and a net margin of 3.50%. The business had revenue of $17.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.73 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.52 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that MetLife will post 8.62 earnings per share for the current year.

MetLife Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 7th were given a dividend of $0.545 per share. This is a positive change from MetLife’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.11%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 6th. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio is currently 74.91%.

MetLife announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, May 1st that permits the company to buyback $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to purchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MetLife

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MET. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in MetLife by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,622,348 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,418,612,000 after buying an additional 1,974,268 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in MetLife during the 4th quarter worth $558,460,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in MetLife by 20.9% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,053,851 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $268,090,000 after buying an additional 700,788 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in MetLife by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,878,238 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $256,468,000 after buying an additional 104,116 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in MetLife by 4.1% during the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,772,751 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $205,544,000 after buying an additional 108,739 shares during the last quarter. 89.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.