Morgan Stanley Increases MetLife (NYSE:MET) Price Target to $82.00

MetLife (NYSE:MET) had its price objective increased by Morgan Stanley from $80.00 to $82.00 in a research note published on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of MetLife from $82.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on MetLife from $74.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on 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 boosted their target price on 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 upgraded MetLife from a neutral rating to a buy rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $70.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $79.23.

MetLife Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of MET stock opened at $69.95 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $71.05 and its two-hundred day moving average is $66.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a current ratio of 0.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $50.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.22, a PEG ratio of 0.52 and a beta of 1.04. MetLife has a fifty-two week low of $48.95 and a fifty-two week high of $74.68.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Bill Pappas sold 27,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.27, for a total value of $1,951,290.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 57,768 shares in the company, valued at $4,174,893.36. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, insider Ramy Tadros sold 4,026 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 146,981 shares in the company, valued at $10,567,933.90. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Bill Pappas sold 27,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 57,768 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,174,893.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.32% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MetLife

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MET. Synovus Financial Corp grew its stake in MetLife by 11.4% during the 1st quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 17,847 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,260,000 after purchasing an additional 1,829 shares in the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC acquired a new stake in MetLife during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $225,000. Baird Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in MetLife by 179.7% during the 1st quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 540,081 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $37,957,000 after purchasing an additional 346,999 shares in the last quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. grew its stake in MetLife by 937.3% during the 1st quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 5,861 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $412,000 after purchasing an additional 5,296 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. grew its stake in MetLife by 114.5% during the 1st quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 3,419 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $240,000 after purchasing an additional 1,825 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.81% of the company’s stock.

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.