Wells Fargo & Company Cuts MetLife (NYSE:MET) Price Target to $92.00

MetLife (NYSE:MET) had its target price reduced by stock analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $96.00 to $92.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price target suggests a potential upside of 21.79% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on the stock. Piper Sandler downgraded shares of MetLife from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $84.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Friday, September 19th. Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of MetLife in a research report on Friday, August 22nd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of MetLife in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on shares of MetLife from $94.00 to $92.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of MetLife from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MetLife presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $95.18.

MetLife Stock Down 0.6%

NYSE MET traded down $0.43 on Friday, reaching $75.54. 2,676,793 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,380,455. MetLife has a 12 month low of $65.21 and a 12 month high of $89.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a current ratio of 0.16. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $80.14 and a 200-day moving average price of $78.75. The company has a market cap of $50.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.80, a PEG ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 0.87.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $12.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.64 billion. MetLife had a net margin of 5.83% and a return on equity of 19.88%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.95 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that MetLife will post 9.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of MetLife

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in MetLife during the 2nd quarter worth about $756,104,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in MetLife by 13.3% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,749,521 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,333,418,000 after acquiring an additional 7,578,199 shares during the period. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in MetLife during the first quarter valued at approximately $336,965,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in MetLife in the 1st quarter worth approximately $312,946,000. Finally, ABN AMRO Bank N.V. acquired a new stake in shares of MetLife during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $178,669,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.99% 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.