Sun Life Financial Inc. (NYSE:SLF) Receives Consensus Rating of "Hold" from Brokerages

Key Points

• Sun Life Financial has received a consensus rating of "Hold" from analysts, with one sell rating, two hold ratings, and two buy ratings.
• The company recently announced a quarterly dividend increase to $0.6394 per share, with a dividend yield of 4.4%.
• Sun Life reported earnings of $1.29 per share, meeting analyst estimates, along with revenue of $6.65 billion for the last quarter, which was below expectations.

Shares of Sun Life Financial Inc. (NYSE:SLF - Get Free Report) TSE: SLF have earned a consensus rating of "Hold" from the five ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have issued a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $88.00.

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on shares of Sun Life Financial from $82.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Scotiabank raised shares of Sun Life Financial to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. National Bank Financial downgraded shares of Sun Life Financial from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Sun Life Financial in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Finally, Barclays downgraded shares of Sun Life Financial from an "equal weight" rating to an "underweight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 7th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of SLF. Rexford Capital Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Sun Life Financial during the 2nd quarter worth about $176,000. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its stake in shares of Sun Life Financial by 1,441.6% during the 2nd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 854,747 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $56,760,000 after buying an additional 799,300 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Sun Life Financial by 78.8% during the 2nd quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 27,549 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,831,000 after buying an additional 12,142 shares during the last quarter. Vident Advisory LLC lifted its stake in shares of Sun Life Financial by 6.9% during the 2nd quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 37,941 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,520,000 after buying an additional 2,454 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC lifted its stake in shares of Sun Life Financial by 1,685.8% during the 2nd quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC now owns 205,046 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $13,625,000 after buying an additional 193,564 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 52.26% of the company's stock.

Sun Life Financial Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of NYSE:SLF traded up $0.36 during trading on Thursday, hitting $58.44. 607,970 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 695,055. Sun Life Financial has a 1-year low of $52.19 and a 1-year high of $66.81. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $62.58 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $59.79. The firm has a market cap of $32.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.46, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.90.

Sun Life Financial (NYSE:SLF - Get Free Report) TSE: SLF last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.29 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.29. Sun Life Financial had a net margin of 7.59% and a return on equity of 17.21%. The company had revenue of $6.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.34 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.11 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Sun Life Financial will post 5.19 EPS for the current year.

Sun Life Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 29th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 27th will be given a $0.6394 dividend. This is a boost from Sun Life Financial's previous quarterly dividend of $0.63. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 27th. This represents a $2.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.4%. Sun Life Financial's payout ratio is 63.12%.

Sun Life Financial Company Profile

Sun Life Financial Inc, a financial services company, provides savings, retirement, and pension products worldwide. The company operates in five segments: Asset Management, Canada, U.S., Asia, and Corporate. It offers various insurance products, such as term and permanent life; personal health, which includes prescription drugs, dental, and vision care; critical illness; long-term care; and disability, as well as reinsurance.