BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp Raises Stock Position in Sun Life Financial Inc. (NYSE:SLF)

BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp lifted its position in shares of Sun Life Financial Inc. (NYSE:SLF - Free Report) TSE: SLF by 19.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,898,866 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 313,176 shares during the quarter. Sun Life Financial accounts for about 0.7% of BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp's holdings, making the stock its 25th biggest position. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp owned about 0.30% of Sun Life Financial worth $112,602,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of SLF. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Sun Life Financial by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,233,496 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,438,888,000 after purchasing an additional 197,887 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its position in shares of Sun Life Financial by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 9,454,589 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $562,121,000 after buying an additional 198,205 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its stake in Sun Life Financial by 10.8% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 7,192,059 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $427,712,000 after acquiring an additional 703,391 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Sun Life Financial during the 4th quarter valued at about $382,176,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Sun Life Financial by 30.6% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,467,275 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $210,080,000 after acquiring an additional 812,689 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 52.26% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SLF has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Sun Life Financial in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Sun Life Financial from $82.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Scotiabank restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Sun Life Financial in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Cormark raised shares of Sun Life Financial from a "hold" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Sun Life Financial from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $88.00.

Sun Life Financial Trading Up 0.4%

NYSE:SLF opened at $63.45 on Wednesday. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $58.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $58.35. Sun Life Financial Inc. has a twelve month low of $46.41 and a twelve month high of $63.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $35.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.52, a PEG ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.90.

Sun Life Financial (NYSE:SLF - Get Free Report) TSE: SLF last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The financial services provider reported $1.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.05. Sun Life Financial had a net margin of 8.08% and a return on equity of 16.86%. The company had revenue of $7.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.44 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.40 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Sun Life Financial Inc. will post 5.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Sun Life Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 28th will be given a $0.6332 dividend. This is a positive change from Sun Life Financial's previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 28th. This represents a $2.53 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.99%. Sun Life Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 62.09%.

About Sun Life Financial

Sun Life Financial Inc, a financial services company, provides savings, retirement, and pension products worldwide. The company operates in five segments: Asset Management, Canada, U.S., Asia, and Corporate. It offers various insurance products, such as term and permanent life; personal health, which includes prescription drugs, dental, and vision care; critical illness; long-term care; and disability, as well as reinsurance.

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