JPMorgan Chase & Co. Raises MetLife (NYSE:MET) Price Target to $86.00

MetLife (NYSE:MET) had its price target upped by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $81.00 to $86.00 in a report issued on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has an overweight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

MET has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on MetLife from $88.00 to $83.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Friday, June 28th. Argus upped their price target on shares of MetLife from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on MetLife from $87.00 to $86.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 7th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on MetLife from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on MetLife from $86.00 to $85.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $80.23.

MetLife Stock Performance

Shares of MET opened at $70.16 on Tuesday. MetLife has a 1 year low of $56.13 and a 1 year high of $74.68. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $71.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $70.20. The company has a market capitalization of $49.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.11, a PEG ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a current ratio of 0.16.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The financial services provider reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.83. MetLife had a return on equity of 20.39% and a net margin of 3.50%. The firm had revenue of $17.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.73 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.52 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that MetLife will post 8.61 EPS for the current year.

MetLife Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 7th were given a $0.545 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 6th. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.11%. This is an increase from MetLife’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. MetLife’s payout ratio is presently 74.91%.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MetLife

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in MetLife by 678.4% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 287,311 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $19,000,000 after purchasing an additional 250,402 shares during the last quarter. CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp acquired a new stake in MetLife during the first quarter worth about $7,012,000. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd lifted its holdings in MetLife by 19.2% in the fourth quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 1,824,596 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $120,661,000 after acquiring an additional 293,925 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in MetLife by 9.9% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,664,012 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $176,304,000 after acquiring an additional 240,564 shares during the period. Finally, MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH raised its position in shares of MetLife by 13.1% during the 4th quarter. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH now owns 742,302 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $49,088,000 after purchasing an additional 86,091 shares during the period. 89.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.