Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) Receives Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Key Points

• Analysts assign Sun Life Financial a “Moderate Buy” consensus: Of 14 analysts, six recommend buying, one strongly recommends buying, six rate it a hold, and one gives it a sell rating. The average 12-month price target is C$116, above the reported opening price of C$109.62.
• Recent broker updates were generally positive, with TD, National Bank Financial, Barclays, Scotiabank, and Desjardins raising their price targets to between C$98 and C$125.
• Sun Life reported quarterly EPS of C$2.02 on C$9.05 billion in revenue and declared a quarterly dividend of $0.96 per share, implying an annualized yield of about 3.5%.

Shares of Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF - Get Free Report) NYSE: SLF have been given an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by the fourteen ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is C$116.00.

A number of research firms have recently commented on SLF. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$96.00 to C$98.00 in a research report on Friday, August 7th. TD lifted their price target on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$121.00 to C$124.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. National Bank Financial upped their price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$108.00 to C$125.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Scotiabank lifted their target price on Sun Life Financial from C$98.00 to C$111.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Desjardins increased their price target on Sun Life Financial from C$120.00 to C$122.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, August 10th.

Sun Life Financial Price Performance

Shares of TSE SLF opened at C$109.62 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 34.34, a current ratio of 27.38 and a quick ratio of 84,866.00. Sun Life Financial has a 1-year low of C$79.19 and a 1-year high of C$118.99. The company has a market capitalization of C$61.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.58, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.80. The business has a 50-day moving average of C$112.80 and a 200-day moving average of C$100.90.

Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF - Get Free Report) NYSE: SLF last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported C$2.02 EPS for the quarter. Sun Life Financial had a return on equity of 13.89% and a net margin of 8.81%.The business had revenue of C$9.05 billion for the quarter. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Sun Life Financial will post 6.9230769 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sun Life Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.96 per share. This represents a $3.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 26th. Sun Life Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 62.37%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Manjit Singh sold 188,312 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$103.20, for a total value of C$19,433,798.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 547 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately C$56,450.40. The trade was a 99.71% decrease in their position. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Sun Life Financial

Sun Life Financial is one of Canada's Big Three life insurance companies along with Great-West Lifeco and Manulife. Sun Life provides insurance, retirement, and wealth-management services to individual and corporate customers in Canada, the United States, and Asia. It also owns MFS Investment Management, a Boston-based asset-management firm. Sun Life generates about a third of its profit from asset-management operations.

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