Manulife Financial Corp (NYSE:MFC) Short Interest Update

Key Points

• Manulife Financial’s short interest surged 147.3% to 13.1 million shares as of July 31, representing about 0.8% of shares outstanding and 7.6 days of average trading volume.
• The company slightly exceeded quarterly earnings expectations, reporting $0.79 EPS versus $0.78 expected, while revenue rose 7.3% year over year. Shares opened at $43.95, near their 52-week high.
• Manulife declared a quarterly dividend of $0.485 per share, equivalent to a 4.4% annualized yield. Analysts maintain a consensus “Buy” rating with a $59 price target, despite one recent downgrade to “Strong Sell.”

Manulife Financial Corp (NYSE:MFC - Get Free Report) TSE: MFC saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of July. As of July 31st, there was short interest totaling 13,067,775 shares, a growth of 147.3% from the July 15th total of 5,285,069 shares. Approximately 0.8% of the company's shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,717,506 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 7.6 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Manulife Financial

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Basepoint Wealth LLC bought a new position in Manulife Financial during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Addison Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Manulife Financial during the second quarter valued at $25,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Manulife Financial during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Canerector Inc. grew its position in shares of Manulife Financial by 27.0% during the first quarter. Canerector Inc. now owns 800,000 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 170,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sfam LLC bought a new position in shares of Manulife Financial during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. 52.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Manulife Financial Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of NYSE:MFC opened at $43.95 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $73.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.40 and a beta of 0.84. Manulife Financial has a 52-week low of $29.70 and a 52-week high of $45.33. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $41.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $38.67.

Manulife Financial (NYSE:MFC - Get Free Report) TSE: MFC last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The financial services provider reported $0.79 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.28 billion. Manulife Financial had a return on equity of 16.68% and a net margin of 9.99%.The business's revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.95 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Manulife Financial will post 3.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Manulife Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 21st. Investors of record on Friday, August 21st will be issued a $0.485 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 21st. This represents a $1.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.4%. Manulife Financial's dividend payout ratio is currently 53.36%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MFC has been the topic of several analyst reports. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Manulife Financial from a "buy (b+)" rating to a "buy (a-)" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Scotiabank reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a report on Friday, August 7th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Zacks Research cut shares of Manulife Financial from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, TD Securities restated a "buy" rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $59.00.

About Manulife Financial

Manulife Financial Corporation is a multinational insurance and financial services company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. Founded in the late 19th century as The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company, Manulife provides a broad range of financial products and services to individual and institutional clients. Its core businesses include life and health insurance, retirement and pension solutions, wealth and asset management, and group benefits.

In wealth and asset management, Manulife operates through Manulife Investment Management and offers mutual funds, segregated funds, institutional asset management, and retirement plan solutions.

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