Manulife Financial Corp $MFC Holdings Increased by Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Manulife Financial Corp (NYSE:MFC) (TSE:MFC) by 38.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 9,400,904 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,618,035 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s holdings in Manulife Financial were worth $341,065,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Canerector Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Manulife Financial by 4,445.8% in the 3rd quarter. Canerector Inc. now owns 28,184,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $877,932,000 after purchasing an additional 27,564,000 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Manulife Financial in the 4th quarter worth approximately $777,229,000. MUFG Securities EMEA plc raised its holdings in shares of Manulife Financial by 814.3% in the 2nd quarter. MUFG Securities EMEA plc now owns 6,399,999 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $204,544,000 after purchasing an additional 5,699,999 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its holdings in shares of Manulife Financial by 25.6% in the 3rd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 27,822,300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $866,649,000 after purchasing an additional 5,671,639 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Manulife Financial by 13,155.3% in the 3rd quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 4,229,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $131,743,000 after purchasing an additional 4,197,592 shares in the last quarter. 52.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on MFC. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a report on Friday, February 13th. TD Securities reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Scotiabank reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Manulife Financial from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and five have assigned a Buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Manulife Financial has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $51.50.

Manulife Financial Price Performance

Manulife Financial stock opened at $38.75 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $37.79 and its 200-day simple moving average is $36.57. The company has a market cap of $64.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.38 and a beta of 0.84. Manulife Financial Corp has a fifty-two week low of $29.70 and a fifty-two week high of $40.40.

Manulife Financial (NYSE:MFC) (TSE:MFC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 13th. The financial services provider reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.79 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $8.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.32 billion. Manulife Financial had a return on equity of 16.58% and a net margin of 10.19%.During the same period last year, the business earned $0.99 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Manulife Financial Corp will post 3.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Manulife Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 29th will be given a $0.485 dividend. This represents a $1.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 29th. Manulife Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 56.75%.

Manulife Financial Company Profile

Manulife Financial Corporation is a multinational insurance and financial services company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. Founded in the late 19th century as The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company, Manulife provides a broad range of financial products and services to individual and institutional clients. Its core businesses include life and health insurance, retirement and pension solutions, wealth and asset management, and group benefits.

In wealth and asset management, Manulife operates through Manulife Investment Management and offers mutual funds, segregated funds, institutional asset management, and retirement plan solutions.