Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Decreases Position in Manulife Financial Corp $MFC

Key Points

• Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA trimmed its stake in Manulife by 3.5% in Q4, selling 208,951 shares and holding 5,690,129 shares valued at about $206.4 million (roughly 0.34% of the company).
• Analysts maintain a consensus "Buy" on MFC with a consensus target price of $51.50, after several firms reiterated/outperformed or upgraded their ratings.
• Manulife beat quarterly EPS estimates with $0.80 per share, reported $11.32 billion in revenue, and raised its quarterly dividend to $0.485 (annualized $1.94), a yield of about 5.3%.

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lessened its holdings in Manulife Financial Corp (NYSE:MFC - Free Report) TSE: MFC by 3.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,690,129 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 208,951 shares during the quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned 0.34% of Manulife Financial worth $206,438,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Root Financial Partners LLC purchased a new position in Manulife Financial in the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. Caldwell Trust Co purchased a new position in Manulife Financial in the 2nd quarter worth $27,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC raised its position in Manulife Financial by 269.2% in the 4th quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 960 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 700 shares during the period. American Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Manulife Financial in the 3rd quarter worth $36,000. Finally, Goodman Advisory Group LLC purchased a new position in Manulife Financial in the 2nd quarter worth $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 52.56% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MFC has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Manulife Financial from a "buy (a-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley set a $51.00 price objective on shares of Manulife Financial in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Scotiabank restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce upgraded shares of Manulife Financial from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and five have given a Buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $51.50.

Manulife Financial Trading Up 0.0%

MFC stock opened at $36.53 on Monday. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $35.46 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $34.92. Manulife Financial Corp has a 12-month low of $27.17 and a 12-month high of $38.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $61.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.45 and a beta of 0.82.

Manulife Financial (NYSE:MFC - Get Free Report) TSE: MFC last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The financial services provider reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.04. Manulife Financial had a net margin of 9.18% and a return on equity of 16.43%. The firm had revenue of $11.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.32 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.03 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Manulife Financial Corp will post 2.87 EPS for the current year.

Manulife Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 19th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 25th were paid a dividend of $0.485 per share. This represents a $1.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 25th. This is a positive change from Manulife Financial's previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. Manulife Financial's payout ratio is presently 63.96%.

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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