Manulife Financial Co. (TSE:MFC) Receives C$48.89 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

Manulife Financial Co. (TSE:MFC) (NYSE:MFC) has been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the eight ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is C$49.44.

Several equities analysts have recently commented on MFC shares. UBS Group raised Manulife Financial to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Barclays increased their price objective on Manulife Financial from C$47.00 to C$48.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. National Bankshares increased their price objective on Manulife Financial from C$47.00 to C$52.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday. Desjardins increased their price objective on Manulife Financial from C$48.00 to C$52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price objective on Manulife Financial from C$51.00 to C$49.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 8th.

Manulife Financial Trading Down 0.3%

TSE:MFC opened at C$44.56 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of C$75.29 billion, a PE ratio of 14.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.93. The stock has a 50 day moving average of C$43.27 and a 200-day moving average of C$42.69. Manulife Financial has a 52 week low of C$36.93 and a 52 week high of C$46.42.

Manulife Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 19th were given a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 20th. Manulife Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 54.19%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Manulife Financial news, insider Paul Lorentz sold 178,425 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$41.90, for a total value of C$7,476,007.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 79,930 shares in the company, valued at C$3,349,067. This represents a 69.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Insiders sold 179,582 shares of company stock valued at $7,516,321 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

About Manulife Financial

Manulife provides life insurance and wealth management products and services to individuals and group customers in Canada, the United States, and Asia. Manulife is one of Canada’s Big Three Life Insurance companies (the other two are Sun Life and Great West Life). As of Dec. 31, 2021, Manulife reported assets under management or administration of about CAD $1.4 trillion.