Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) Receives Average Rating of "Hold" from Analysts

Key Points

• Analysts give Sun Life Financial a consensus rating of Hold from 10 firms (1 sell, 5 hold, 3 buy, 1 strong buy) with an average 12‑month target of C$96.44.
• Shares opened at C$88.12 (down 1.6%), trade in a 52‑week range of C$74.56–C$94.76, and the company has a P/E of 14.33 and market cap of C$48.81 billion; last quarter Sun Life reported C$1.96 EPS on C$8.67 billion revenue.
• Sun Life declared a quarterly dividend of C$0.92 (annualized C$3.68) implying a yield of 4.2%, with an ex‑dividend date of Feb 25 and pay date of Mar 31.

Shares of Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF - Get Free Report) NYSE: SLF have earned a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from the ten research firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have given a hold recommendation, three have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is C$96.44.

A number of brokerages recently commented on SLF. Desjardins upped their price target on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$96.00 to C$101.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$84.00 to C$83.00 in a research report on Friday, January 9th. TD Securities reduced their price objective on Sun Life Financial from C$104.00 to C$102.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Sun Life Financial from C$97.00 to C$103.00 in a report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce upped their target price on Sun Life Financial from C$93.00 to C$95.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 8th.

Sun Life Financial Trading Down 1.6%

Shares of Sun Life Financial stock opened at C$88.12 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 74.49, a current ratio of 2.78 and a quick ratio of 84,866.00. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of C$88.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of C$84.93. Sun Life Financial has a 1 year low of C$74.56 and a 1 year high of C$94.76. The company has a market capitalization of C$48.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.76.

Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF - Get Free Report) NYSE: SLF last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The financial services provider reported C$1.96 EPS for the quarter. The firm had revenue of C$8.67 billion for the quarter. Sun Life Financial had a net margin of 9.74% and a return on equity of 14.68%. Research analysts forecast that Sun Life Financial will post 6.9230769 EPS for the current year.

Sun Life Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be paid a $0.92 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.2%. Sun Life Financial's payout ratio is 57.24%.

Sun Life Financial Company Profile

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. Sun Life generates about a third of its profit from asset-management operations.

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