Manulife Financial Co. (TSE:MFC) Receives Consensus Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Brokerages

Shares of Manulife Financial Co. (TSE:MFC - Get Free Report) NYSE: MFC have been assigned an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the eight analysts that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, five have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is C$47.88.

A number of brokerages have commented on MFC. CIBC cut their price target on shares of Manulife Financial from C$48.00 to C$46.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Scotiabank cut their price target on shares of Manulife Financial from C$53.00 to C$50.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. National Bankshares cut their price target on shares of Manulife Financial from C$49.00 to C$48.00 in a research note on Friday. Royal Bank Of Canada set a C$51.00 target price on shares of Manulife Financial and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on shares of Manulife Financial from C$51.00 to C$46.00 in a research note on Monday, April 21st.

Insider Activity at Manulife Financial

In other Manulife Financial news, Director Philip James Witherington sold 10,866 shares of Manulife Financial stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$44.22, for a total value of C$480,488.00. Also, Director Ka Ming (Kenneth) Dai sold 1,073 shares of Manulife Financial stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of C$42.96, for a total transaction of C$46,091.79. Insiders have sold a total of 62,070 shares of company stock worth $2,744,604 in the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Manulife Financial Price Performance

MFC stock traded down C$0.28 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching C$41.71. The stock had a trading volume of 3,272,837 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,805,146. The stock has a market capitalization of C$73.16 billion, a PE ratio of 12.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.06. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of C$43.27 and a 200 day simple moving average of C$42.95. Manulife Financial has a fifty-two week low of C$32.87 and a fifty-two week high of C$46.42.

Manulife Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 19th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 19th were paid a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 21st. Manulife Financial's dividend payout ratio is presently 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.