MetLife's (MET) "Overweight" Rating Reaffirmed at Wells Fargo & Company

MetLife (NYSE:MET - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "overweight" rating reissued by equities research analysts at Wells Fargo & Company in a report issued on Thursday, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have a $97.00 price target on the financial services provider's stock, up from their previous price target of $94.00. Wells Fargo & Company's price target indicates a potential upside of 25.11% from the company's current price.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on MET. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on MetLife from $86.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of MetLife from $94.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, May 19th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of MetLife from $88.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 7th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of MetLife from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price target on MetLife from $92.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. 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, MetLife has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $95.50.

MetLife Price Performance

Shares of MET stock traded down $0.17 during trading on Thursday, hitting $77.53. The company had a trading volume of 459,332 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,345,338. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a current ratio of 0.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $52.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 0.85. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $78.98 and its 200 day moving average price is $79.99. MetLife has a one year low of $65.21 and a one year high of $89.05.

MetLife (NYSE:MET - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.96 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.00 by ($0.04). MetLife had a return on equity of 20.89% and a net margin of 6.08%. The business had revenue of $18.57 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.06 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.83 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 15.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that MetLife will post 9.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MetLife declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, April 30th that authorizes the company to buyback $3.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to repurchase up to 5.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in MetLife during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Transce3nd LLC bought a new position in MetLife during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. North Capital Inc. bought a new position in MetLife during the 1st quarter worth $26,000. Quarry LP bought a new position in shares of MetLife in the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Motco raised its position in shares of MetLife by 105.5% in the 1st quarter. Motco now owns 413 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 212 shares in the last quarter. 94.99% of the stock is owned by 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.