Manulife Financial Co. (TSE:MFC) Given Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

Manulife Financial Co. (TSE:MFC - Get Free Report) NYSE: MFC has been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the eight research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is C$46.10.

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. TD Securities raised their price target on shares of Manulife Financial from C$48.00 to C$49.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. CIBC lifted their price target on shares of Manulife Financial from C$47.00 to C$48.00 in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Royal Bank of Canada set a C$51.00 price target on shares of Manulife Financial and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Barclays cut their target price on Manulife Financial from C$49.00 to C$45.00 in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on Manulife Financial from C$51.00 to C$46.00 in a research note on Monday, April 21st.

Insider Activity

In other Manulife Financial news, Director Kenneth Michael Ross sold 3,219 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of C$44.91, for a total transaction of C$144,572.68. Also, Director Brooks Tingle sold 3,866 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$43.43, for a total transaction of C$167,882.21. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 18,683 shares of company stock valued at $816,102. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Manulife Financial Price Performance

MFC traded down C$0.21 during trading on Friday, hitting C$42.25. The stock had a trading volume of 7,858,211 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,871,551. The firm has a market cap of C$74.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a 50 day moving average price of C$42.15 and a 200-day moving average price of C$43.12. Manulife Financial has a one year low of C$32.00 and a one year high of C$46.42.

Manulife Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 19th were given a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 5th. This is an increase from Manulife Financial's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.17%. Manulife Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.79%.

About Manulife Financial

Manulife provides life insurance and wealth management products and services to individuals and group customers in Canada, the United States, and Asia. Manulife is one of Canada's Big Three Life Insurance companies (the other two are Sun Life and Great West Life). As of Dec. 31, 2021, Manulife reported assets under management or administration of about CAD $1.4 trillion.