MetLife, Inc. (MET) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.55 on September 10th

MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, July 9th, NASDAQ reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 6th will be paid a dividend of 0.545 per share by the financial services provider on Tuesday, September 10th. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 6th.

MetLife has increased its dividend by an average of 4.2% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 11 years. MetLife has a dividend payout ratio of 22.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect MetLife to earn $9.77 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.18 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 22.3%.

MetLife Stock Up 2.4 %

MetLife stock opened at $71.62 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The company has a market capitalization of $50.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.61, a P/E/G ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 1.11. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $71.04 and a 200-day moving average price of $70.36. MetLife has a twelve month low of $57.70 and a twelve month high of $74.68.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last released 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 the consensus estimate of $17.73 billion. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.52 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that MetLife will post 8.62 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on MET shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on shares of MetLife from $86.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on MetLife from $88.00 to $83.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on MetLife from $85.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 6th. StockNews.com lowered MetLife from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 1st. Finally, Argus raised their target price on MetLife from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $80.23.

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

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.