JPMorgan Chase & Co. Raises MetLife (NYSE:MET) Price Target to $95.00

MetLife (NYSE:MET - Get Free Report) had its price objective hoisted by equities research analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $86.00 to $95.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an "overweight" rating on the financial services provider's stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s target price suggests a potential upside of 19.18% from the stock's previous close.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on MetLife from $91.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of MetLife from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of MetLife from $92.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of MetLife from $94.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of MetLife from $98.00 to $95.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, MetLife presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $95.42.

MetLife Price Performance

MET stock traded up $0.53 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $79.71. 2,866,019 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,370,615. MetLife has a 52 week low of $65.21 and a 52 week high of $89.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $53.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.96, a P/E/G ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 0.85. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $78.80 and a 200 day simple moving average of $80.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a current ratio of 0.16.

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

MetLife declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, April 30th that permits the company to buyback $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to reacquire up to 5.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Trading of MetLife

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Persium Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of MetLife by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter. Persium Advisors LLC now owns 8,875 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $714,000 after acquiring an additional 463 shares during the period. Goldstone Financial Group LLC boosted its position in MetLife by 22.6% during the second quarter. Goldstone Financial Group LLC now owns 8,577 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $692,000 after purchasing an additional 1,581 shares in the last quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. boosted its position in MetLife by 55.8% during the second quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 1,198 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $96,000 after purchasing an additional 429 shares in the last quarter. AG2R LA Mondiale Gestion D Actifs purchased a new position in MetLife in the first quarter valued at about $1,775,000. Finally, Voya Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in MetLife by 3.6% in the first quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 366,556 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $29,431,000 after purchasing an additional 12,877 shares in the last quarter. 94.99% 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.