Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) Receives C$88.38 Average Price Target from Analysts

Key Points

• Sun Life Financial Inc. has received an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from eight brokerages, with a target price of C$88.38.
• The company recently increased its quarterly dividend from $0.84 to $0.88, resulting in a dividend yield of 4.11%.
• Insiders sold a total of 188,721 shares valued at over $16.5 million in the last quarter, with 0.03% of the stock currently owned by insiders.

Shares of Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF - Get Free Report) NYSE: SLF have received an average rating of "Moderate Buy" from the eight brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is C$88.38.

SLF has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on shares of 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. CIBC lowered their price target on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$94.00 to C$89.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$96.00 to C$90.00 in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$82.00 to C$88.00 in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Finally, Barclays downgraded shares of Sun Life Financial from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th.

Insider Transactions at Sun Life Financial

In other Sun Life Financial news, Senior Officer Stephen Peacher sold 80,048 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of C$87.70, for a total value of C$7,020,209.60. Also, Senior Officer Daniel Fishbein sold 37,662 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 have sold 188,721 shares of company stock worth $16,554,701 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Sun Life Financial Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of SLF traded up C$0.60 during trading hours on Friday, reaching C$85.60. 838,970 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,087,370. The company has a current ratio of 92.19, a quick ratio of 84,866.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 26.00. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of C$87.53 and a 200 day simple moving average of C$83.57. 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 market cap of C$48.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.91, a PEG 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. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th were paid a dividend of $0.88 per share. This is a positive change from Sun Life Financial's previous quarterly dividend of $0.84. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 28th. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.11%. Sun Life Financial's payout ratio is presently 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.