Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) Receives Consensus Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Key Points

• Sun Life Financial has a consensus analyst rating of "Moderate Buy" from 10 analysts (1 sell, 4 hold, 4 buy, 1 strong buy) with an average 12‑month target price of C$98.44.
• Analysts have been raising targets and upgrading coverage recently — notably National Bank Financial upgraded SLF to "outperform" and set a C$109 target, while BMO raised its target to C$100.
• Shares trade near their 52‑week high (opened C$97.74; 52‑week high C$98.74); the stock has a P/E of 15.89 and pays a quarterly dividend of C$0.92 (annualized C$3.68) for a yield of 3.8% with a 57.24% payout ratio.

Shares of Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF - Get Free Report) NYSE: SLF have earned an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the ten analysts that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have issued a hold recommendation, four have given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is C$98.44.

SLF has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce upped their price target on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$93.00 to C$95.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$95.00 to C$100.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$93.00 to C$96.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$84.00 to C$85.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. Finally, National Bank Financial raised shares of Sun Life Financial from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a C$109.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday.

Sun Life Financial Stock Performance

TSE:SLF opened at C$97.74 on Monday. Sun Life Financial has a 52 week low of C$77.38 and a 52 week high of C$98.74. The firm has a 50 day moving average of C$89.67 and a 200 day moving average of C$86.84. The company has a quick ratio of 84,866.00, a current ratio of 2.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 74.49. The stock has a market capitalization of C$54.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.89, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.69.

Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF - Get Free Report) NYSE: SLF last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The financial services provider reported C$1.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Sun Life Financial had a net margin of 9.74% and a return on equity of 14.68%. The business had revenue of C$8.67 billion for the quarter. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Sun Life Financial will post 6.9230769 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sun Life Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 31st were issued a $0.92 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.8%. 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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