MetLife, Inc. (MET) To Go Ex-Dividend on February 3rd

MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, January 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 3rd will be given a dividend of 0.5675 per share by the financial services provider on Tuesday, March 10th. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 3rd.

MetLife has increased its dividend by an average of 0.0%per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 12 consecutive years. MetLife has a dividend payout ratio of 22.0% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect MetLife to earn $10.57 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.27 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 21.5%.

MetLife Stock Down 3.6%

NYSE:MET opened at $78.30 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 0.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $78.76 and a 200-day moving average of $79.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $51.59 billion, a PE ratio of 14.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 0.76. MetLife has a 52 week low of $65.21 and a 52 week high of $88.09.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The financial services provider reported $2.37 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $12.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.64 billion. MetLife had a net margin of 5.30% and a return on equity of 21.00%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.95 earnings per share. Analysts predict that MetLife will post 9.65 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on MET. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on shares of MetLife from $92.00 to $90.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on MetLife from $92.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 23rd. Evercore ISI set a $97.00 target price on MetLife and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Wolfe Research raised MetLife to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 16th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of MetLife from $96.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $95.83.

MetLife Company Profile

MetLife, Inc is a global provider of insurance, annuities and employee benefit programs. Headquartered in New York City, the company offers a range of risk protection and retirement solutions to individuals, employers and institutional clients. Its core businesses include life insurance, group benefits, retirement products such as annuities, and supplemental health products including dental and disability coverage.

In addition to traditional life and group insurance, MetLife provides workplace benefits and voluntary products distributed through employer-sponsored programs.