Manjit Singh Sells 188,312 Shares of Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) Stock

Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) insider Manjit Singh sold 188,312 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$103.20, for a total transaction of C$19,433,798.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 547 shares in the company, valued at C$56,450.40. This represents a 99.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock.

Sun Life Financial Price Performance

TSE:SLF opened at C$107.04 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is C$97.42 and its 200-day moving average price is C$90.28. The company has a market capitalization of C$59.33 billion, a PE ratio of 19.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.84. Sun Life Financial Inc. has a 1-year low of C$77.38 and a 1-year high of C$107.42.

Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported C$1.89 EPS for the quarter. Sun Life Financial had a net margin of 9.12% and a return on equity of 12.98%. The company had revenue of C$8.73 billion for the quarter. Equities analysts anticipate that Sun Life Financial Inc. will post 6.9230769 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sun Life Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be given a dividend of $0.96 per share. This is a positive change from Sun Life Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 27th. This represents a $3.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.6%. Sun Life Financial’s payout ratio is currently 67.04%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on SLF shares. National Bank Financial cut their price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$109.00 to C$108.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$84.00 to C$85.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$93.00 to C$96.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce increased their price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$95.00 to C$102.00 in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, TD increased their price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$102.00 to C$107.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Sun Life Financial currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of C$101.60.

Sun Life Financial Company Profile

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.