Stock Repurchase Plan Approved by MetLife (NYSE:MET) Board

MetLife (NYSE:MET) announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, May 1st, RTT News reports. The company plans to repurchase $3.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to reacquire up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MET has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on MetLife from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of MetLife from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of MetLife from $87.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 5th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of MetLife from $83.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised MetLife from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $70.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Monday, January 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, MetLife presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $79.23.

MetLife Trading Up 0.4 %

MetLife stock opened at $70.52 on Friday. MetLife has a 12 month low of $48.95 and a 12 month high of $74.68. The company has a market capitalization of $50.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.54 and a beta of 1.03. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $71.64 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $67.40. The company has a current ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The financial services provider reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.83. MetLife had a return on equity of 20.37% and a net margin of 3.50%. The firm had revenue of $17.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.73 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.52 EPS. MetLife’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that MetLife will post 8.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 7th will be issued a $0.545 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 6th. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.09%. This is a boost from MetLife’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 71.48%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Ramy Tadros sold 4,026 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, insider Ramy Tadros sold 4,026 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.90, for a total value of $289,469.40. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 146,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,567,933.90. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Bill Pappas sold 27,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.27, for a total value of $1,951,290.00. Following the transaction, 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. 0.32% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.