Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Raises MetLife (NYSE:MET) Price Target to $87.00

MetLife (NYSE:MET) had its price objective hoisted by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $82.00 to $87.00 in a research report released on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods currently has an outperform rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on MET. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of MetLife from $74.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of MetLife from $87.00 to $82.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of MetLife from $85.00 to $83.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of MetLife from a neutral rating to a buy rating and increased their target price for the company from $70.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MetLife currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $79.08.

MetLife Stock Performance

MET opened at $70.14 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The company has a market cap of $50.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.33, a PEG ratio of 0.53 and a beta of 1.04. MetLife has a 52-week low of $48.95 and a 52-week high of $74.68. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $70.81 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $66.53.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The financial services provider reported $1.93 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.95 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $18.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.07 billion. MetLife had a net margin of 2.36% and a return on equity of 19.48%. Equities analysts anticipate that MetLife will post 8.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at MetLife

In other MetLife news, EVP Bill Pappas sold 27,000 shares of MetLife stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.27, for a total transaction of $1,951,290.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 57,768 shares in the company, valued at $4,174,893.36. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other MetLife news, insider Ramy Tadros sold 4,026 shares of MetLife stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.90, for a total transaction of $289,469.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 146,981 shares in the company, valued at $10,567,933.90. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Bill Pappas sold 27,000 shares of MetLife stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.27, for a total transaction of $1,951,290.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 57,768 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,174,893.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC boosted its stake in shares of MetLife by 214.4% in the first quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 10,704 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $793,000 after purchasing an additional 7,299 shares during the period. Unison Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of MetLife by 1.1% in the first quarter. Unison Advisors LLC now owns 50,961 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,777,000 after purchasing an additional 564 shares during the period. Austin Private Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of MetLife by 15.8% in the first quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC now owns 5,058 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $372,000 after purchasing an additional 691 shares during the period. Strategic Planning Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of MetLife by 15.6% in the first quarter. Strategic Planning Group LLC now owns 18,581 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,377,000 after purchasing an additional 2,505 shares during the period. Finally, Navalign LLC boosted its stake in shares of MetLife by 3.1% in the first quarter. Navalign LLC now owns 11,274 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $836,000 after purchasing an additional 334 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.81% of the company’s stock.

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.