Aurora Private Wealth Inc. Makes New Investment in Manulife Financial Corp (NYSE:MFC)

Aurora Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Manulife Financial Corp (NYSE:MFC - Free Report) TSE: MFC during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 20,061 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $625,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC grew its position in shares of Manulife Financial by 10.1% during the 1st quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 17,586 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $548,000 after buying an additional 1,617 shares in the last quarter. Rossby Financial LCC bought a new position in shares of Manulife Financial during the 1st quarter worth $243,000. K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc grew its position in shares of Manulife Financial by 62.2% during the 1st quarter. K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc now owns 78,059 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,435,000 after buying an additional 29,929 shares in the last quarter. Little House Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Manulife Financial by 5.1% during the 1st quarter. Little House Capital LLC now owns 35,488 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,105,000 after buying an additional 1,721 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its position in shares of Manulife Financial by 4.0% during the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 437,523 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $13,896,000 after buying an additional 16,873 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 52.56% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Manulife Financial Stock Performance

MFC stock traded up $0.17 during trading on Friday, reaching $31.62. 936,889 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,172,964. Manulife Financial Corp has a 12 month low of $23.30 and a 12 month high of $33.07. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $31.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $30.50. The company has a market capitalization of $54.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 0.99.

Manulife Financial (NYSE:MFC - Get Free Report) TSE: MFC last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $0.69 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $1.49 billion for the quarter. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.94 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Manulife Financial Corp will post 2.87 EPS for the current year.

Manulife Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 19th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 21st were given a dividend of $0.3194 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 21st. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.04%. This is an increase from Manulife Financial's previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. Manulife Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 67.02%.

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.