Brokerages Set Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) Target Price at C$86.89

Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF - Get Free Report) NYSE: SLF has received a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the eight brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is C$86.89.

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. TD Securities boosted their price target on Sun Life Financial from C$83.00 to C$86.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on Sun Life Financial from C$94.00 to C$90.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$82.00 to C$88.00 in a report on Monday, May 12th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$87.00 to C$86.00 in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on Sun Life Financial from C$96.00 to C$90.00 in a research report on Monday, April 21st.

Insider Activity at Sun Life Financial

In other news, Director Kevin Strain bought 3,850 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 5th. The shares were acquired at an average price of C$89.10 per share, with a total value of C$343,035.00. Also, Senior Officer Daniel Fishbein sold 37,662 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$87.60, for a total value of C$3,299,191.20. Insiders sold a total of 188,721 shares of company stock valued at $16,554,701 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Sun Life Financial Stock Performance

SLF traded up C$0.12 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching C$88.18. 259,582 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,210,522. The company's fifty day moving average price is C$87.20 and its 200-day moving average price is C$83.53. Sun Life Financial has a 52-week low of C$64.38 and a 52-week high of C$91.11. The company has a quick ratio of 84,866.00, a current ratio of 92.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 26.00. The stock has a market capitalization of C$50.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.94.

Sun Life Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 30th were paid a dividend of $0.88 per share. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.99%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 28th. This is a positive change from Sun Life Financial's previous quarterly dividend of $0.84. Sun Life Financial's payout ratio is 48.87%.

About Sun Life Financial

Sun Life Financial is one of Canada's Big Three life insurance companies along with Great-West Lifeco and Manulife. Sun Life provides insurance, retirement, and wealth-management services to individual and corporate customers in Canada, the United States, and Asia. It also owns MFS Investment Management, a Boston-based asset-management firm.