Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Sun Life Financial Inc. (NYSE:SLF - Free Report) TSE: SLF by 1.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 24,595,092 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 361,596 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 4.33% of Sun Life Financial worth $1,407,626,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Brighton Jones LLC acquired a new position in Sun Life Financial in the 4th quarter valued at about $244,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Sun Life Financial by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 21,807 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,294,000 after buying an additional 674 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Sun Life Financial in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,074,000. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its position in Sun Life Financial by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 20,860 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,237,000 after acquiring an additional 382 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its stake in Sun Life Financial by 40.3% during the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 8,286 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $492,000 after acquiring an additional 2,379 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 52.26% of the company's stock.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Scotiabank raised Sun Life Financial to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. National Bank Financial cut shares of Sun Life Financial from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Sun Life Financial in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Barclays lowered shares of Sun Life Financial from an "equal weight" rating to an "underweight" rating in a report on Monday, July 7th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial from $82.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Sun Life Financial has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $88.00.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on Sun Life Financial
Sun Life Financial Trading Up 1.3%
SLF traded up $0.73 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $57.61. 541,243 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 831,599. The firm's fifty day moving average is $63.00 and its two-hundred day moving average is $59.79. Sun Life Financial Inc. has a 1-year low of $49.35 and a 1-year high of $66.81. The company has a market cap of $32.44 billion, a PE ratio of 14.26, a PEG ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.90.
Sun Life Financial (NYSE:SLF - Get Free Report) TSE: SLF last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.29. Sun Life Financial had a net margin of 7.59% and a return on equity of 17.21%. The business had revenue of $6.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.34 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.11 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Sun Life Financial Inc. will post 5.19 earnings per share for the current year.
Sun Life Financial Increases Dividend
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 27th will be given a $0.6394 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 27th. This represents a $2.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.4%. This is a boost from Sun Life Financial's previous quarterly dividend of $0.63. Sun Life Financial's dividend payout ratio is 62.87%.
About Sun Life Financial
(
Free Report)
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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