Manulife Financial Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides financial products and services in Asia, Canada, the United States, and internationally. The company operates through Wealth and Asset Management Businesses; Insurance and Annuity Products; And Corporate and Other segments. The Wealth and Asset Management Businesses segment provides mutual funds and exchange-traded funds, group retirement and savings products, and institutional asset management services through agents and brokers affiliated with the company, securities brokerage firms, and financial advisors pension plan consultants and banks. The Insurance and Annuity Products segment offers deposit and credit products; individual life, and individual and group long-term care insurance; and guaranteed and partially guaranteed annuity products through insurance agents, brokers, banks, financial planners, and direct marketing. The Corporate and Other segment is involved in property and casualty insurance and reinsurance businesses; and run-off reinsurance operations, including variable annuities, and accident and health. It also manages timberland and agricultural portfolios; and engages in insurance agency, portfolio and mutual fund management, mutual fund dealer, life, annuity, long-term care, and financial reinsurance; and fund management businesses. Additionally, the company holds and manages provides investment management, counseling, advisory, and dealer services. Manulife Financial Corporation was incorporated in 1887 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MFC. Desjardins cut Manulife Financial from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, May 13th. TD Securities decreased their target price on Manulife Financial from C$37.00 to C$34.00 in a report on Thursday, May 12th. BMO Capital Markets cut Manulife Financial from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 12th. Scotiabank upgraded Manulife Financial from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 27th. Finally, National Bank Financial lowered their price target on Manulife Financial from C$26.00 to C$25.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $30.38.
Manulife Financial Price Performance
MFC traded up $0.42 during trading on Friday, reaching $19.12. 2,283,219 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,617,247. The stock has a market cap of $36.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.17. Manulife Financial has a fifty-two week low of $16.27 and a fifty-two week high of $22.19. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $17.62 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $19.22.
Manulife Financial (NYSE:MFC - Get Rating) (TSE:MFC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 10th. The financial services provider reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.14. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.68 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Manulife Financial will post 2.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Manulife Financial Increases Dividend
The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 19th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 23rd will be given a $0.258 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 22nd. This represents a $1.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.40%. This is a boost from Manulife Financial's previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Manulife Financial's payout ratio is currently 33.66%.