Sun Life Financial Inc. (NYSE:SLF) Receives $86.50 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

Sun Life Financial Inc. (NYSE:SLF) (TSE:SLF) has been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the eleven ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have assigned a hold recommendation, four have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $86.50.

SLF has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Sun Life Financial in a report on Thursday, January 8th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Sun Life Financial in a report on Friday, February 13th. Barclays restated an “underweight” rating on shares of Sun Life Financial in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Sun Life Financial in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Scotiabank reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating on shares of Sun Life Financial in a research note on Thursday, February 5th.

Institutional Trading of Sun Life Financial

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Sun Life Financial by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,884,084 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,615,788,000 after acquiring an additional 534,772 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Sun Life Financial in the fourth quarter valued at about $398,037,000. Bank of Nova Scotia raised its holdings in Sun Life Financial by 6.5% in the second quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 6,157,205 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $409,576,000 after purchasing an additional 377,204 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Sun Life Financial by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,529,609 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $353,181,000 after purchasing an additional 347,041 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted its position in shares of Sun Life Financial by 86.6% during the fourth 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 last quarter. Institutional investors own 52.26% of the company’s stock.

Sun Life Financial Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SLF opened at $62.58 on Friday. Sun Life Financial has a fifty-two week low of $52.44 and a fifty-two week high of $69.67. The company has a market cap of $34.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.22 and a beta of 0.87. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $64.33 and its 200-day moving average price is $61.93.

Sun Life Financial (NYSE:SLF) (TSE:SLF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The financial services provider reported $1.41 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.06. Sun Life Financial had a return on equity of 17.76% and a net margin of 8.48%.The company had revenue of $973.53 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $973.53 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.68 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Sun Life Financial will post 5.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Sun Life Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 25th were issued a dividend of $0.92 per share. This represents a $3.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 25th. Sun Life Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 61.36%.

About Sun Life Financial

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.