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

Key Points

• Manulife Financial Co. has received a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from seven analysts, with an average price target of C$48.89 over the next twelve months.
• The company recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.44 per share, reflecting an annualized dividend yield of 4.0%.
• Insider Paul Lorentz sold 178,425 shares at an average price of C$41.90, leading to a 69.06% decrease in his ownership of the stock.

Manulife Financial Co. (TSE:MFC - Get Free Report) NYSE: MFC has been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the seven analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is C$48.89.

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. TD Securities upped their price target on shares of Manulife Financial from C$50.00 to C$54.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Manulife Financial from C$51.00 to C$49.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 8th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Manulife Financial from C$47.00 to C$48.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Desjardins upped their price objective on shares of Manulife Financial from C$48.00 to C$52.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, National Bankshares cut their price objective on shares of Manulife Financial from C$48.00 to C$47.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 7th.

Manulife Financial Price Performance

MFC stock opened at C$44.50 on Friday. Manulife Financial has a 52-week low of C$36.93 and a 52-week high of C$46.42. The company has a 50-day moving average of C$43.08 and a two-hundred day moving average of C$42.68. The stock has a market capitalization of C$75.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.93.

Manulife Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 19th were given a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 20th. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.0%. Manulife Financial's dividend payout ratio is currently 54.19%.

Insider Activity at Manulife Financial

In other news, insider Paul Lorentz sold 178,425 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$41.90, for a total transaction of C$7,476,007.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 79,930 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately C$3,349,067. This represents a 69.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Insiders have sold a total of 179,582 shares of company stock worth $7,516,321 over the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Manulife Financial Company Profile

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.

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