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

Key Points

• Sun Life Financial has a consensus analyst rating of “Moderate Buy” from 11 covering firms, with an average 12-month target price of C$101.60.
• The company recently raised its quarterly dividend to C$0.96 per share, equal to an annualized payout of C$3.84 and a 3.4% yield.
• Insiders have been active sellers, including major sales by director Kevin Strain and insider Manjit Singh, while the stock recently traded near its 52-week high after a modest daily decline.

Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF - Get Free Report) NYSE: SLF has earned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the eleven research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is C$101.60.

Several analysts recently weighed in on SLF shares. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$99.00 to C$105.00 in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Barclays raised their target price on Sun Life Financial from C$84.00 to C$85.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Desjardins set a C$101.00 target price on Sun Life Financial and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 17th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce upped their price target on Sun Life Financial from C$95.00 to C$102.00 in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, TD increased their price target on Sun Life Financial from C$102.00 to C$107.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Kevin Strain sold 104,744 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$96.99, for a total value of C$10,159,120.56. Following the transaction, the director owned 42,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately C$4,073,580. The trade was a 71.38% decrease in their position. Also, insider Manjit Singh sold 188,312 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$103.20, for a total transaction of C$19,433,798.40. Following the sale, the insider owned 547 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately C$56,450.40. This trade represents a 99.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 380,998 shares of company stock worth $38,271,605. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Sun Life Financial Trading Down 0.6%

TSE SLF traded down C$0.63 during trading hours on Friday, reaching C$113.18. The company's stock had a trading volume of 612,994 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,963,166. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of C$104.50 and a 200-day simple moving average of C$94.28. The stock has a market cap of C$62.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.79. Sun Life Financial has a 52 week low of C$77.38 and a 52 week high of C$114.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 32.51, a current ratio of 6.03 and a quick ratio of 84,866.00.

Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF - Get Free Report) NYSE: SLF last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported C$1.89 earnings per share for the quarter. Sun Life Financial had a net margin of 9.12% and a return on equity of 12.89%. The firm had revenue of C$8.73 billion for the quarter. Equities analysts forecast that Sun Life Financial will post 6.9230769 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sun Life Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th were given a dividend of $0.96 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 27th. This represents a $3.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.4%. This is a boost from Sun Life Financial's previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. Sun Life Financial's payout ratio is currently 67.04%.

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

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