Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) Price Target Raised to C$118.00

Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) had its price objective upped by Scotia from C$110.00 to C$118.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday,BayStreet.CA reports. Scotia currently has a sector perform rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on SLF. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce boosted their target price on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$102.00 to C$116.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. TD raised their price target on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$121.00 to C$124.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$98.00 to C$111.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$99.00 to C$105.00 in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Finally, National Bank Financial upped their price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$108.00 to C$125.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of C$116.00.

Sun Life Financial Price Performance

Shares of SLF opened at C$111.90 on Monday. Sun Life Financial has a 52-week low of C$79.15 and a 52-week high of C$118.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 34.34, a quick ratio of 84,866.00 and a current ratio of 27.38. The business’s 50 day moving average price is C$111.79 and its two-hundred day moving average price is C$98.94. The firm has a market cap of C$61.96 billion, a PE ratio of 18.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.80.

Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported C$2.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The firm had revenue of C$9.05 billion for the quarter. Sun Life Financial had a return on equity of 13.89% and a net margin of 8.81%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Sun Life Financial will post 6.9230769 EPS for the current year.

Sun Life Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th were issued a dividend of $0.96 per share. This is a positive change from Sun Life Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. This represents a $3.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 27th. Sun Life Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 62.37%.

Insider Transactions at Sun Life Financial

In other news, insider Helena Janina Pagano sold 17,283 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$101.32, for a total transaction of C$1,751,113.56. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 228 shares of the company’s stock, valued at C$23,100.96. This represents a 98.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 value of C$19,433,798.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 547 shares in the company, valued at approximately C$56,450.40. This represents a 99.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. In the last three months, insiders have sold 216,461 shares of company stock worth $22,287,387. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.