Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. Makes New Investment in Manulife Financial Corp (NYSE:MFC)

Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. bought a new stake in Manulife Financial Corp (NYSE:MFC - Free Report) TSE: MFC in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 13,820 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $431,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MFC. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Manulife Financial in the 4th quarter valued at about $654,751,000. FIL Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Manulife Financial by 21.7% in the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 39,610,614 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,216,880,000 after acquiring an additional 7,053,066 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Manulife Financial by 28.7% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,650,598 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $333,291,000 after acquiring an additional 2,377,338 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its stake in shares of Manulife Financial by 42.1% in the 4th quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 7,427,745 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $227,895,000 after acquiring an additional 2,200,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Manulife Financial by 216.0% in the 4th quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,545,393 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $78,110,000 after acquiring an additional 1,739,853 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 52.56% of the company's stock.

Manulife Financial Price Performance

NYSE:MFC traded up $0.45 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $30.91. 1,984,784 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,177,598. Manulife Financial Corp has a 12-month low of $23.30 and a 12-month high of $33.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $52.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.19, a PEG ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $31.41 and a 200-day moving average price of $30.51.

Manulife Financial (NYSE:MFC - Get Free Report) TSE: MFC last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.70 by ($0.01). Manulife Financial had a net margin of 9.58% and a return on equity of 15.84%. The business had revenue of $1.49 billion for the quarter. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.94 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Manulife Financial Corp will post 2.87 EPS for the current year.

Manulife Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 19th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 21st were issued a dividend of $0.3194 per share. This is an increase from Manulife Financial's previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 21st. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.13%. Manulife Financial's dividend payout ratio is 67.02%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Morgan Stanley set a $46.00 target price on Manulife Financial in a research note on Monday, May 19th.

Manulife Financial Profile

Manulife Financial Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides financial products and services in the United States, Canada, Asia, and internationally. The company operates through Wealth and Asset Management Businesses; Insurance and Annuity Products; and Corporate and Other segments. The Wealth and Asset Management Businesses segment offers investment advice and solutions to retirement, retail, and institutional clients through multiple distribution channels, including agents and brokers affiliated with the company, independent securities brokerage firms and financial advisors pension plan consultants, and banks.