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

Shares of Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLFGet Free Report) (NYSE:SLF) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have assigned a hold recommendation, five have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is C$101.60.

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$103.00 to C$115.00 in a research note on Friday, May 1st. National Bank Financial lowered their price target 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 note on Thursday, May 7th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$99.00 to C$105.00 in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$84.00 to C$85.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. Finally, TD upped their price target on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$102.00 to C$107.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th.

View Our Latest Analysis on Sun Life Financial

Sun Life Financial Stock Performance

TSE:SLF opened at C$109.43 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 84,866.00, a current ratio of 6.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 33.48. Sun Life Financial has a fifty-two week low of C$77.38 and a fifty-two week high of C$112.05. The stock has a market cap of C$60.66 billion, a PE ratio of 20.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.84. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is C$99.45 and its 200-day simple moving average is C$91.20.

Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLFGet Free Report) (NYSE:SLF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported C$1.89 earnings per share for the quarter. Sun Life Financial had a net margin of 9.12% and a return on equity of 12.98%. The business had revenue of C$8.73 billion for the quarter. Analysts expect that Sun Life Financial will post 6.9230769 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sun Life Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be paid a $0.96 dividend. This represents a $3.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 27th. This is a positive change from Sun Life Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. Sun Life Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 67.04%.

Insider Transactions at Sun Life Financial

In related news, insider Melissa Jane Kennedy sold 7,366 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$101.49, for a total value of C$747,575.34. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 13,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately C$1,412,334.84. This represents a 34.61% decrease in their position. Also, insider Manjit Singh sold 188,312 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 9th. The shares were 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 approximately C$56,450.40. The trade was a 99.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Insiders sold 380,998 shares of company stock worth $38,271,605 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Sun Life Financial Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.

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Analyst Recommendations for Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF)

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