MetLife (NYSE:MET) Given New $92.00 Price Target at Piper Sandler

MetLife (NYSE:MET) had its target price increased by Piper Sandler from $85.00 to $92.00 in a research report report published on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

MET has been the topic of a number of other reports. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on MetLife from $89.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Citigroup raised their price objective on MetLife from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on MetLife from $86.00 to $85.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of MetLife from $99.00 to $96.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of MetLife from $86.00 to $85.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $87.25.

MetLife Stock Up 3.4 %

Shares of MET stock opened at $84.04 on Wednesday. MetLife has a twelve month low of $57.91 and a twelve month high of $84.26. The stock has a market cap of $59.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.88, a P/E/G ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.04. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $75.97 and a 200 day moving average of $73.33. The company has a current ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last posted its earnings results 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 net margin of 4.23% and a return on equity of 21.41%. The firm had revenue of $17.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.94 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that MetLife will post 8.68 EPS for the current year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 6th were paid a $0.545 dividend. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.59%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 6th. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio is currently 74.91%.

Institutional Trading of MetLife

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,974,268 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in MetLife during the first quarter worth $131,456,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in MetLife by 7,837.0% during the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,129,353 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $79,250,000 after buying an additional 1,115,124 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of MetLife by 22.4% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,396,274 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $378,799,000 after acquiring an additional 988,666 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of MetLife by 29.7% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 2,120,275 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $157,133,000 after acquiring an additional 485,811 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.81% of the company’s stock.

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.