Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) Senior Officer Linda Dougherty Purchases 5,800 Shares

Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) Senior Officer Linda Dougherty acquired 5,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was bought at an average price of C$84.83 per share, for a total transaction of C$492,014.00.

Linda Dougherty also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Thursday, September 12th, Linda Dougherty sold 2,000 shares of Sun Life Financial stock. The shares were sold at an average price of C$75.30, for a total transaction of C$150,590.00.

Sun Life Financial Price Performance

Shares of TSE SLF traded down C$1.07 during trading hours on Friday, hitting C$84.88. 2,657,183 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,019,266. Sun Life Financial Inc. has a 1-year low of C$64.38 and a 1-year high of C$86.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 53.77, a quick ratio of 84,866.00 and a current ratio of 65.29. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is C$78.34 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is C$72.22. The company has a market cap of C$48.93 billion, a PE ratio of 16.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.94.

Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 12th. The financial services provider reported C$1.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of C$1.58 by C$0.13. Sun Life Financial had a net margin of 9.90% and a return on equity of 13.65%. The company had revenue of C$8.92 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of C$9.18 billion. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Sun Life Financial Inc. will post 6.9230769 EPS for the current year.

Sun Life Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.84 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 27th. This is an increase from Sun Life Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.81. This represents a $3.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.96%. Sun Life Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 61.36%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on SLF shares. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Sun Life Financial from C$90.00 to C$94.00 in a research report on Thursday. Cormark upped their price objective on Sun Life Financial from C$82.00 to C$85.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Sun Life Financial from C$78.00 to C$82.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. National Bankshares upped their price target on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$72.00 to C$73.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, CIBC lifted their price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$90.00 to C$96.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of C$84.18.

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.