Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) Reaches New 12-Month High – Still a Buy?

Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) shares hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as C$20.75 and last traded at C$114.72, with a volume of 936568 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at C$115.73.

Trending Headlines about Sun Life Financial

Here are the key news stories impacting Sun Life Financial this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Sun Life reported approximately C$1 billion in second-quarter profit, up from C$716 million a year earlier, indicating substantial year-over-year earnings growth. Sun Life Financial reports $1B in Q2 profit, rising from $716M last year
• Positive Sentiment: Sun Life posted quarterly EPS of C$2.02 on revenue of C$9.05 billion, with a 12.89% return on equity and a 9.12% net margin. Sun Life Financial quarterly earnings
• Positive Sentiment: TD raised its price target to C$124 from C$121 and upgraded its view to “buy,” implying further potential upside from the latest quoted trading level. BayStreet.CA analyst ratings
• Positive Sentiment: Brokerages collectively assigned Sun Life an average “moderate buy” recommendation, providing some support for investor sentiment. Sun Life Financial Given Average Recommendation of Moderate Buy
• Neutral Sentiment: Sun Life’s preferred share series announced quarterly dividends of C$0.2781 and US$0.1854. These distributions may appeal to income investors but apply to preferred securities rather than directly changing the outlook for common shares. Sun Life preferred share dividend
• Negative Sentiment: Barclays raised its target to C$98 from C$96 but maintained a target below the current trading level, implying meaningful downside and signaling a more cautious valuation view. BayStreet.CA analyst ratings

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on SLF. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce increased their target price on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$102.00 to C$116.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Evercore lowered shares of Sun Life Financial from an “outperform” rating to a “hold” rating and set a C$111.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, July 13th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$99.00 to C$105.00 in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$96.00 to C$98.00 in a research report on Friday. Finally, Desjardins set a C$101.00 price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of C$110.82.

Sun Life Financial Stock Down 1.8%

The firm has a market cap of C$62.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a current ratio of 6.03, a quick ratio of 84,866.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 32.51. The stock has a 50-day moving average of C$110.68 and a 200-day moving average of C$98.18.

Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported C$2.02 EPS for the quarter. The firm had revenue of C$9.05 billion during the quarter. Sun Life Financial had a return on equity of 12.89% and a net margin of 9.12%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Sun Life Financial Inc. will post 6.9230769 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sun Life Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th were given a dividend of $0.96 per share. This is an increase 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 payout ratio is currently 67.04%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Linda Dougherty sold 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$101.40, for a total value of C$354,900.00. Also, insider Helena Janina Pagano sold 17,283 shares of Sun Life Financial stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$101.32, for a total transaction of C$1,751,113.56. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 228 shares in the company, valued at approximately C$23,100.96. This represents a 98.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 380,998 shares of company stock worth $38,271,605. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.