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

MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, October 8th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 5th will be paid a dividend of 0.545 per share by the financial services provider on Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.62%.

MetLife has raised its dividend payment by an average of 4.2% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 11 consecutive years. MetLife has a payout ratio of 22.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect MetLife to earn $9.86 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 22.1%.

MetLife Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of MET stock traded up $0.28 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $83.28. 2,554,171 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,349,629. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $76.12 and its 200 day simple moving average is $73.40. 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 has a twelve month low of $57.91 and a twelve month high of $84.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $59.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.47, a P/E/G ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.04.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $2.28 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.13 by $0.15. MetLife had a net margin of 4.23% and a return on equity of 21.41%. The company had revenue of $17.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.57 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.94 EPS. MetLife’s quarterly revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that MetLife will post 8.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on MET shares. Bank of America dropped their price target on MetLife from $99.00 to $96.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. StockNews.com downgraded shares of MetLife from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on MetLife from $86.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of MetLife from $86.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on MetLife from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $87.25.

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.