MetLife (NYSE:MET) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.15 EPS

MetLife (NYSE:MET) posted its earnings results on Wednesday. The financial services provider reported $2.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.13 by $0.15, Briefing.com reports. MetLife had a net margin of 3.50% and a return on equity of 20.39%. The business 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 firm earned $1.94 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year.

MetLife Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE MET opened at $76.85 on Thursday. MetLife has a twelve month low of $57.91 and a twelve month high of $77.50. The stock has a market cap of $54.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.41, a P/E/G ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.11. 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’s fifty day moving average is $71.90 and its 200-day moving average is $71.16.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.545 per share. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 6th. MetLife’s payout ratio is 74.91%.

MetLife announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, May 1st that permits the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to repurchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on MET shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective 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. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on MetLife from $85.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 6th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of MetLife from $82.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Argus raised their price objective on shares of MetLife from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of MetLife from $83.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.08.

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.