Legal & General Group Plc Invests $430.04 Million in Manulife Financial Corp $MFC

Key Points

• Legal & General Group Plc acquired 10.6 million Manulife Financial shares worth approximately $430 million during the second quarter, representing a 0.64% stake. Institutional investors collectively own 52.56% of MFC.
• Analyst sentiment remains largely positive: MarketBeat reports an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $59, despite one analyst downgrading the stock to “strong sell.”
• Manulife reported quarterly EPS of $0.79, slightly exceeding estimates, while revenue rose 7.3% year over year. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.485 per share, equivalent to a 4.5% annualized yield.

Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new stake in shares of Manulife Financial Corp (NYSE:MFC - Free Report) TSE: MFC during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 10,607,073 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $430,039,000. Legal & General Group Plc owned 0.64% of Manulife Financial at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MFC. Basepoint Wealth LLC bought a new position in Manulife Financial in the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Addison Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Manulife Financial in the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of Manulife Financial in the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Canerector Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Manulife Financial by 27.0% during the 1st quarter. Canerector Inc. now owns 800,000 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 170,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sfam LLC bought a new stake in Manulife Financial during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. 52.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on MFC. Scotiabank reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a report on Friday, August 7th. TD Securities reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on shares of Manulife Financial from $55.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Zacks Research downgraded Manulife Financial from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Manulife Financial from a "buy (a-)" rating to a "buy (a)" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $59.00.

Manulife Financial Price Performance

NYSE MFC opened at $43.18 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $71.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.11 and a beta of 0.84. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $42.57 and its 200 day moving average price is $38.98. Manulife Financial Corp has a 1 year low of $29.77 and a 1 year high of $45.33.

Manulife Financial (NYSE:MFC - Get Free Report) TSE: MFC last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The financial services provider reported $0.79 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.28 billion. Manulife Financial had a return on equity of 16.68% and a net margin of 9.99%.The firm's revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.95 EPS. Research analysts expect that Manulife Financial Corp will post 3.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Manulife Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 21st. Investors of record on Friday, August 21st will be given a $0.485 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 21st. This represents a $1.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.5%. Manulife Financial's dividend payout ratio is currently 51.49%.

About Manulife Financial

Manulife Financial Corporation is a multinational insurance and financial services company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. Founded in the late 19th century as The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company, Manulife provides a broad range of financial products and services to individual and institutional clients. Its core businesses include life and health insurance, retirement and pension solutions, wealth and asset management, and group benefits.

In wealth and asset management, Manulife operates through Manulife Investment Management and offers mutual funds, segregated funds, institutional asset management, and retirement plan solutions.

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