MetLife (NYSE:MET) Stock Rating Upgraded by Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen upgraded MetLife from "hold" to "buy," and the stock carries an overall average rating of Moderate Buy with an average analyst target price of $93.50.
• Q4 results beat expectations—EPS $2.49 vs. $2.34 estimate—and revenue rose 27.6% year-over-year; the stock trades near $73.98 with a $48.24 billion market cap and a P/E of 15.74.
• Institutional ownership is very high (94.99%), with major investors like Vanguard, Dodge & Cox, Wellington, and Pzena materially increasing stakes and Norges Bank initiating a new position.

MetLife (NYSE:MET - Get Free Report) was upgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on MET. Weiss Ratings cut shares of MetLife from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research note on Monday, March 9th. Evercore set a $96.00 price target on shares of MetLife in a research note on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a "moderate buy" rating and issued a $87.00 price target on shares of MetLife in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of MetLife from $93.00 to $90.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of MetLife from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. 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 has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $93.50.

MetLife Price Performance

NYSE:MET opened at $73.98 on Friday. 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 firm has a market cap of $48.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $73.19 and a 200-day moving average price of $76.99. MetLife has a 1-year low of $67.33 and a 1-year high of $83.85.

MetLife (NYSE:MET - Get Free Report) last posted 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. The firm had revenue of $52.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $31.43 billion. MetLife had a net margin of 4.38% and a return on equity of 21.81%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 27.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.08 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that MetLife will post 9.65 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MetLife

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in MetLife by 12.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 72,555,335 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $5,727,518,000 after purchasing an additional 7,805,814 shares during the last quarter. Dodge & Cox boosted its stake in MetLife by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 53,659,664 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $4,419,947,000 after purchasing an additional 477,783 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in MetLife by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,572,807 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,035,622,000 after purchasing an additional 180,683 shares during the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in MetLife by 22.9% during the 4th quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 11,883,338 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $938,071,000 after purchasing an additional 2,211,315 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in MetLife during the 4th quarter worth $639,986,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.99% of the company's stock.

About MetLife

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.

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