MetLife (NYSE:MET) Hits New 1-Year High at $74.75

MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high on Monday . The stock traded as high as $74.75 and last traded at $74.73, with a volume of 543738 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $73.39.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have weighed in on MET shares. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on MetLife from $86.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 10th. StockNews.com cut MetLife from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 1st. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on MetLife from $82.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on MetLife from $88.00 to $83.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their target price on MetLife from $85.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research 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 MarketBeat, MetLife has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $80.23.

MetLife Trading Up 1.6 %

The firm has a fifty day moving average of $71.15 and a two-hundred day moving average of $70.49. The company has a market cap of $53.00 billion, a PE ratio of 25.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a current ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The financial services provider reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83. The business had revenue of $17.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.73 billion. MetLife had a return on equity of 20.39% and a net margin of 3.50%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.52 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that MetLife, Inc. will post 8.59 EPS for the current year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.545 per share. This represents a $2.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 6th. MetLife’s payout ratio is presently 74.91%.

MetLife announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, May 1st that allows the company to buyback $3.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to reacquire up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Trading of MetLife

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of MET. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of MetLife during the 4th quarter valued at about $558,460,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in MetLife by 3.4% in 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. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in MetLife in the 1st quarter worth approximately $131,456,000. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc purchased a new position in MetLife in the 4th quarter worth approximately $52,752,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of MetLife by 20.9% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,053,851 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $268,090,000 after buying an additional 700,788 shares during the period. 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.