MetLife, Inc. Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.55 (NYSE:MET)

MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, July 9th, NASDAQ reports. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 6th will be given a dividend of 0.545 per share by the financial services provider on Tuesday, September 10th. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.09%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 6th.

MetLife has raised its dividend by an average of 4.2% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 11 years. MetLife has a dividend payout ratio of 22.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect MetLife to earn $9.77 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.18 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 22.3%.

MetLife Trading Down 6.9 %

NYSE MET opened at $70.56 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $71.94 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $71.25. The stock has a market cap of $50.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.25, a PEG ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 1.11. MetLife has a twelve month low of $57.91 and a twelve month high of $79.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a current ratio of 0.16.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $2.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.13 by $0.15. MetLife had a return on equity of 21.41% and a net margin of 4.23%. The firm had revenue of $17.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.94 earnings per share. MetLife’s quarterly revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that MetLife will post 8.62 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MET. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of MetLife from $85.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 6th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on MetLife from $83.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on MetLife from $86.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 8th. Argus increased their price target on MetLife from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of MetLife from $82.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MetLife has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $82.77.

MetLife declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, May 1st that permits the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to repurchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.