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

MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, April 23rd, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 7th will be paid a dividend of 0.545 per share by the financial services provider on Tuesday, June 11th. This represents a $2.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.09%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 6th. This is a boost from MetLife’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52.

MetLife has increased its dividend by an average of 4.2% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 7 years. MetLife has a dividend payout ratio of 21.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect MetLife to earn $9.94 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 21.9%.

MetLife Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of MET opened at $70.52 on Friday. MetLife has a 12-month low of $48.95 and a 12-month high of $74.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $50.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.23, a P/E/G ratio of 0.53 and a beta of 1.03. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $71.66 and a 200 day moving average price of $67.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The financial services provider reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.83. The business had revenue of $17.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.73 billion. MetLife had a net margin of 3.50% and a return on equity of 20.39%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.52 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that MetLife will post 8.69 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on MET shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on MetLife from $83.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of MetLife from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of MetLife from $82.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of MetLife from $87.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 5th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their target price on MetLife from $74.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, MetLife has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $79.23.

MetLife announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, May 1st that allows the company to buyback $3.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to buy up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at MetLife

In other MetLife news, EVP Bill Pappas sold 27,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.27, for a total transaction of $1,951,290.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 57,768 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,174,893.36. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Bill Pappas sold 27,000 shares of MetLife 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 57,768 shares in the company, valued at $4,174,893.36. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Ramy Tadros sold 4,026 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.90, for a total transaction of $289,469.40. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 146,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,567,933.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.32% 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.