Wells Fargo & Company Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for MetLife (NYSE:MET) Stock

MetLife (NYSE:MET - Free Report) had its target price hoisted by Wells Fargo & Company from $92.00 to $97.00 in a research report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the financial services provider's stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of MetLife from $100.00 to $98.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of MetLife from $86.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. StockNews.com cut shares of MetLife from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of MetLife from $97.00 to $99.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on shares of MetLife from $96.00 to $95.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, MetLife presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $92.58.

MetLife Stock Performance

MetLife stock traded down $1.73 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $81.02. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,282,193 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,504,177. The firm has a market cap of $56.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.57, a PEG ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 1.07. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $83.41 and a 200-day moving average price of $81.44. The company has a current ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. MetLife has a twelve month low of $67.30 and a twelve month high of $89.05.

MetLife (NYSE:MET - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The financial services provider reported $2.08 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $2.13 by ($0.05). MetLife had a return on equity of 20.42% and a net margin of 6.19%. Sell-side analysts predict that MetLife will post 9.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 4th will be paid a $0.545 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 4th. This represents a $2.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.69%. MetLife's dividend payout ratio is currently 36.52%.

Institutional Trading of MetLife

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MET. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in MetLife during the fourth quarter valued at about $730,716,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in MetLife by 33.7% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 24,663,239 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,019,427,000 after buying an additional 6,213,923 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in MetLife by 109.2% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,826,658 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $722,727,000 after buying an additional 4,606,748 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its stake in MetLife by 43.7% during the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 5,663,177 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $463,701,000 after buying an additional 1,723,461 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB lifted its stake in MetLife by 76.0% during the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 3,466,808 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $283,862,000 after buying an additional 1,496,645 shares in the last quarter. 94.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.