MetLife (NYSE:MET) Upgraded to Buy at StockNews.com

MetLife (NYSE:MET) was upgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report released on Thursday.

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America cut their price objective on MetLife from $99.00 to $96.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on MetLife from $83.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on MetLife from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on MetLife from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Barclays began coverage on MetLife in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $91.00 price objective for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $85.23.

MetLife Price Performance

Shares of MET stock opened at $82.50 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $75.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $72.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.16 and a quick ratio of 0.16. The firm has a market cap of $58.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.35, a P/E/G ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.04. MetLife has a one year low of $57.91 and a one year high of $82.99.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $2.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.13 by $0.15. MetLife had a return on equity of 21.41% and a net margin of 4.23%. The firm had revenue of $17.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.94 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that MetLife will post 8.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in MetLife by 3.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,622,348 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,418,612,000 after acquiring an additional 1,974,268 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of MetLife by 22.4% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,396,274 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $378,799,000 after buying an additional 988,666 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in shares of MetLife by 5.4% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,299,800 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $371,993,000 after buying an additional 269,246 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of MetLife by 3.2% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,224,930 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $226,358,000 after buying an additional 100,782 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in shares of MetLife by 4.1% during the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,772,751 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $205,544,000 after buying an additional 108,739 shares during the period. 89.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.