Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the eight brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is C$77.18.

SLF has been the subject of several analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Sun Life Financial from C$82.00 to C$83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Desjardins lifted their price objective on Sun Life Financial from C$75.00 to C$77.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Sun Life Financial from C$75.00 to C$76.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. TD Securities boosted their price target on Sun Life Financial from C$73.00 to C$75.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Evercore boosted their price target on Sun Life Financial from C$76.00 to C$78.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 23rd.

Sun Life Financial Stock Up 0.8 %

SLF stock opened at C$70.84 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 84,866.00, a current ratio of 6.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 78.47. The business has a 50 day moving average price of C$72.46 and a two-hundred day moving average price of C$69.70. The company has a market cap of C$41.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.96. Sun Life Financial has a twelve month low of C$61.84 and a twelve month high of C$74.94.

Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The financial services provider reported C$1.68 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of C$1.59 by C$0.09. The company had revenue of C$18.68 billion during the quarter. Sun Life Financial had a return on equity of 13.98% and a net margin of 10.26%. Analysts anticipate that Sun Life Financial will post 6.9036382 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sun Life Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 28th were given a dividend of $0.78 per share. This is a positive change from Sun Life Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 27th. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.40%. Sun Life Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 59.32%.

Insider Activity at Sun Life Financial

In related news, Senior Officer Daniel Fishbein sold 16,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$74.45, for a total transaction of C$1,191,120.00. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Sun Life Financial

Sun Life Financial Inc, a financial services company, provides savings, retirement, and pension products worldwide. The company operates in five segments: Asset Management, Canada, U.S., Asia, and Corporate. It offers various insurance products, such as term and permanent life; personal health, which includes prescription drugs, dental, and vision care; critical illness; long-term care; and disability, as well as reinsurance.