M&T Bank Corp Reduces Stock Holdings in Manulife Financial Corp $MFC

M&T Bank Corp lowered its position in shares of Manulife Financial Corp (NYSE:MFC - Free Report) TSE: MFC by 50.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 24,703 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 25,612 shares during the quarter. M&T Bank Corp's holdings in Manulife Financial were worth $896,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. grew its position in Manulife Financial by 2.5% in the third quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 6,861,208 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $215,779,000 after acquiring an additional 166,076 shares in the last quarter. OPTIMAS CAPITAL Ltd acquired a new stake in Manulife Financial in the third quarter valued at approximately $8,021,000. Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in Manulife Financial by 5.7% in the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 11,541,321 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $359,662,000 after acquiring an additional 621,093 shares in the last quarter. Sienna Gestion grew its position in Manulife Financial by 233.6% in the third quarter. Sienna Gestion now owns 556,239 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $15,804,000 after acquiring an additional 389,500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its position in Manulife Financial by 44.6% in the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 642,498 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $20,207,000 after acquiring an additional 198,208 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 52.56% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on MFC shares. Weiss Ratings cut Manulife Financial from a "buy (b+)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Scotiabank reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce upgraded Manulife Financial from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and five have given a Buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Manulife Financial presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $51.50.

Manulife Financial Stock Up 3.1%

Shares of NYSE:MFC opened at $39.34 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $65.78 billion, a PE ratio of 17.72 and a beta of 0.82. The company's 50-day moving average price is $35.77 and its 200 day moving average price is $35.54. Manulife Financial Corp has a fifty-two week low of $29.70 and a fifty-two week high of $39.35.

Manulife Financial (NYSE:MFC - Get Free Report) TSE: MFC last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The financial services provider reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $11.32 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.32 billion. Manulife Financial had a net margin of 9.18% and a return on equity of 16.43%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.03 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Manulife Financial Corp will post 3.22 EPS for the current year.

Manulife Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 19th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 25th were given a $0.485 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 25th. This represents a $1.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.9%. This is a boost from Manulife Financial's previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. Manulife Financial's payout ratio is 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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