Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) Sets New 12-Month High - Here's Why

Key Points

• Sun Life Financial shares hit a new 52‑week high of C$96.68 on Tuesday, with several analysts raising price targets and a MarketBeat consensus target of about C$96.67.
• The company has solid fundamentals—market cap ~C$53.4B, trailing P/E 15.68, last quarter EPS C$1.96 on C$8.67B revenue—and pays a quarterly dividend of C$0.92 (annualized yield ~3.8%, payout ratio ~57%).

Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF - Get Free Report) NYSE: SLF shares hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as C$96.68 and last traded at C$96.39, with a volume of 185226 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at C$96.08.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Desjardins set a C$101.00 price target on Sun Life Financial and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Sun Life Financial from C$97.00 to C$103.00 in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce raised their price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$93.00 to C$95.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$84.00 to C$85.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$93.00 to C$96.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Sun Life Financial has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of C$96.67.

Sun Life Financial Price Performance

The company has a fifty day simple moving average of C$89.21 and a 200 day simple moving average of C$86.51. The stock has a market capitalization of C$53.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 74.49, a quick ratio of 84,866.00 and a current ratio of 2.78.

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 for the quarter. Sun Life Financial had a return on equity of 14.68% and a net margin of 9.74%.The company had revenue of C$8.67 billion during the quarter. Equities research analysts forecast that Sun Life Financial Inc. will post 6.9230769 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sun Life Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st were given a dividend of $0.92 per share. This represents a $3.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 25th. Sun Life Financial's dividend payout ratio is currently 57.24%.

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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