Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) Share Price Passes Above Two Hundred Day Moving Average - Time to Sell?

Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF - Get Free Report) NYSE: SLF's stock price crossed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Wednesday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of C$83.14 and traded as high as C$89.10. Sun Life Financial shares last traded at C$88.68, with a volume of 982,393 shares traded.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on SLF. Scotiabank lowered their target price on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$94.00 to C$90.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on Sun Life Financial from C$96.00 to C$90.00 in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Barclays dropped their price objective on Sun Life Financial from C$87.00 to C$86.00 in a report on Friday, May 9th. TD Securities raised their price target on Sun Life Financial from C$83.00 to C$86.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, National Bankshares dropped their price target on Sun Life Financial from C$95.00 to C$93.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Sun Life Financial has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of C$86.89.

Sun Life Financial Stock Performance

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 company has a market cap of C$51.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a 50 day moving average price of C$83.36 and a 200-day moving average price of C$83.21.

Sun Life Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th will be given a dividend of $0.88 per share. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.94%. This is a boost from Sun Life Financial's previous quarterly dividend of $0.84. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 28th. Sun Life Financial's dividend payout ratio is currently 48.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Senior Officer Stephen Peacher sold 80,048 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of C$87.70, for a total transaction of C$7,020,209.60. Also, Senior Officer Daniel Fishbein sold 37,662 shares of the company's 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 transaction of C$3,299,191.20. Insiders sold a total of 144,522 shares of company stock worth $12,657,675 in the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.