Vise Technologies Inc. Buys Shares of 17,248 Sun Life Financial Inc. $SLF

Vise Technologies Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Sun Life Financial Inc. (NYSE:SLF) (TSE:SLF) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 17,248 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,353,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Sun Life Financial by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,884,084 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,615,788,000 after purchasing an additional 534,772 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia lifted its holdings in Sun Life Financial by 14.7% in the first quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 6,869,280 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $430,244,000 after purchasing an additional 878,031 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Sun Life Financial in the 4th quarter valued at about $398,037,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Sun Life Financial by 6.7% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,529,609 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $353,181,000 after buying an additional 347,041 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased its stake in Sun Life Financial by 86.6% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,952,646 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $246,645,000 after buying an additional 1,834,772 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 52.26% of the company’s stock.

Sun Life Financial Stock Performance

Sun Life Financial stock opened at $79.07 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $44.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.48 and a beta of 0.88. Sun Life Financial Inc. has a 1 year low of $57.22 and a 1 year high of $84.38. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $80.21 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $72.17.

Sun Life Financial (NYSE:SLF) (TSE:SLF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $10.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $994.33 million. Sun Life Financial had a return on equity of 17.96% and a net margin of 7.66%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Sun Life Financial Inc. will post 5.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sun Life Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 29th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 26th will be given a dividend of $0.96 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 26th. This represents a $3.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.9%. Sun Life Financial’s payout ratio is 66.12%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SLF has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Evercore lowered shares of Sun Life Financial from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial from $98.00 to $119.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Sun Life Financial in a report on Friday, May 8th. Argus set a $81.00 target price on Sun Life Financial in a research report on Wednesday, June 10th. Finally, TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Sun Life Financial in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $96.33.

Sun Life Financial Profile

Sun Life Financial Inc, founded in 1865 and headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, is an international financial services organization that provides a range of insurance, wealth management and asset management solutions. The company serves individual and institutional clients, offering products designed to protect against life and health risks, help clients save for retirement, and manage investments on behalf of customers and third parties.

Core business activities include life and health insurance, group benefits for employers, retirement and pension products, and wealth management services such as mutual funds and segregated fund solutions.