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

MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, January 7th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 4th will be given a dividend of 0.545 per share by the financial services provider on Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 4th.

MetLife has raised its dividend payment by an average of 4.3% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 11 years. MetLife has a payout ratio of 20.4% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect MetLife to earn $9.69 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 22.5%.

MetLife Stock Performance

NYSE MET opened at $82.91 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $82.85 and a 200 day simple moving average of $78.84. MetLife has a 12-month low of $64.61 and a 12-month high of $89.05. The company has a market cap of $57.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.72, a PEG ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.07.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on MET. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on MetLife from $86.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. StockNews.com cut shares of MetLife from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on MetLife from $92.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. TD Cowen upped their target price on MetLife from $97.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on MetLife from $89.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $90.00.

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.