Jefferies Financial Group Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) Stock

Key Points

• Jefferies Financial Group raised its price target on Sun Life Financial to C$131 from C$115 and kept a buy rating, implying about 14.9% upside from the previous close.
• Other analysts have also been adjusting targets higher, including TD and BMO Capital Markets, while the overall consensus remains a Moderate Buy with an average target of C$107.82.
• Sun Life shares recently traded near their 52-week high at C$114.01, and the company reported quarterly earnings of C$1.89 per share on C$8.73 billion in revenue.

Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF - Get Free Report) NYSE: SLF had its price target raised by equities researchers at Jefferies Financial Group from C$115.00 to C$131.00 in a report released on Tuesday,BayStreet.CA reports. The firm currently has a "buy" rating on the financial services provider's stock. Jefferies Financial Group's target price would indicate a potential upside of 14.90% from the stock's previous close.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. TD boosted their price target on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$107.00 to C$121.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Barclays raised their price objective on Sun Life Financial from C$84.00 to C$85.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$99.00 to C$105.00 in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Evercore cut shares of Sun Life Financial from an "outperform" rating to a "hold" rating and set a C$111.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Finally, National Bank Financial lowered their target price on Sun Life Financial from C$109.00 to C$108.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Sun Life Financial currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of C$107.82.

Sun Life Financial Price Performance

Shares of SLF stock traded up C$0.51 on Tuesday, reaching C$114.01. The company's stock had a trading volume of 444,064 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,920,275. Sun Life Financial has a 12-month low of C$77.38 and a 12-month high of C$115.45. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is C$106.42 and its 200-day simple moving average is C$95.51. The company has a quick ratio of 84,866.00, a current ratio of 6.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 32.51. The company has a market capitalization of C$63.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.23, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.79.

Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF - Get Free Report) NYSE: SLF last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported C$1.89 earnings per share for the quarter. The firm had revenue of C$8.73 billion for the quarter. Sun Life Financial had a return on equity of 12.89% and a net margin of 9.12%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Sun Life Financial will post 6.9230769 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Sun Life Financial news, insider Melissa Jane Kennedy sold 7,366 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$101.49, for a total value of C$747,575.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 13,916 shares in the company, valued at approximately C$1,412,334.84. This represents a 34.61% decrease in their position. Also, insider Manjit Singh sold 188,312 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$103.20, for a total transaction of C$19,433,798.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 547 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately C$56,450.40. This represents a 99.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Insiders have sold a total of 380,998 shares of company stock valued at $38,271,605 over the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Sun Life Financial

Sun Life Financial is one of Canada's Big Three life insurance companies along with Great-West Lifeco and Manulife. Sun Life provides insurance, retirement, and wealth-management services to individual and corporate customers in Canada, the United States, and Asia. It also owns MFS Investment Management, a Boston-based asset-management firm. Sun Life generates about a third of its profit from asset-management operations.

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