Sanctuary Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Manulife Financial Corp $MFC

Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Manulife Financial Corp (NYSE:MFC) (TSE:MFC) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 45,724 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,852,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Basepoint Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Manulife Financial in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Addison Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Manulife Financial during the 2nd quarter worth $25,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in Manulife Financial during the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Canerector Inc. lifted its holdings in Manulife Financial by 27.0% in the 1st quarter. Canerector Inc. now owns 800,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 170,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sfam LLC acquired a new position in Manulife Financial in the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 52.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MFC has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Zacks Research cut Manulife Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Manulife Financial from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (a)” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. Scotiabank reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a research note on Friday, August 7th. TD Securities reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $59.00.

Manulife Financial Price Performance

Shares of MFC opened at $43.23 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $71.84 billion, a PE ratio of 16.13 and a beta of 0.84. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $42.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $39.02. Manulife Financial Corp has a 12-month low of $29.94 and a 12-month high of $45.33.

Manulife Financial (NYSE:MFC) (TSE:MFC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The financial services provider reported $0.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $2.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.28 billion. Manulife Financial had a net margin of 9.99% and a return on equity of 16.68%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.95 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Manulife Financial Corp will post 3.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Manulife Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 21st will be issued a $0.485 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 21st. This represents a $1.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.5%. Manulife Financial’s payout ratio is 51.49%.

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.