TD Cowen Cuts MetLife (NYSE:MET) Price Target to $88.00

MetLife (NYSE:MET) had its price target cut by TD Cowen from $91.00 to $88.00 in a report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on MET. Mizuho set a $100.00 target price on shares of MetLife in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of MetLife from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Monday. Barclays set a $90.00 price objective on shares of MetLife in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on MetLife from $101.00 to $93.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of MetLife from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MetLife currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $93.67.

MetLife Price Performance

NYSE:MET opened at $68.00 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.47, a PEG ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.20 and a quick ratio of 0.20. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $76.20 and a 200-day simple moving average of $78.37. MetLife has a 1 year low of $65.21 and a 1 year high of $85.00.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.34 by $0.15. MetLife had a return on equity of 21.81% and a net margin of 4.38%.The firm had revenue of $52.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $31.43 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.08 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that MetLife will post 9.65 EPS for the current year.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 3rd were given a $0.5675 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 3rd. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. MetLife’s payout ratio is 48.30%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MET. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in MetLife in the 2nd quarter valued at $756,104,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in MetLife by 12.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 72,555,335 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,727,518,000 after purchasing an additional 7,805,814 shares during the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of MetLife by 22.9% in the fourth quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 11,883,338 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $938,071,000 after buying an additional 2,211,315 shares in the last quarter. ABN AMRO Bank N.V. purchased a new position in MetLife during the 2nd quarter valued at about $178,669,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in MetLife by 105.3% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,305,620 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $271,424,000 after acquiring an additional 1,695,563 shares in the last quarter. 94.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MetLife Company Profile

MetLife, Inc is a global provider of insurance, annuities and employee benefit programs. Headquartered in New York City, the company offers a range of risk protection and retirement solutions to individuals, employers and institutional clients. Its core businesses include life insurance, group benefits, retirement products such as annuities, and supplemental health products including dental and disability coverage.

In addition to traditional life and group insurance, MetLife provides workplace benefits and voluntary products distributed through employer-sponsored programs.