Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) Shares Pass Above 200 Day Moving Average – Should You Sell?

Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLFGet Free Report) (NYSE:SLF) passed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Thursday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of C$94.15 and traded as high as C$113.92. Sun Life Financial shares last traded at C$113.81, with a volume of 811,236 shares changing hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SLF has been the topic of several recent research reports. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce raised their price target on Sun Life Financial from C$95.00 to C$102.00 in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Desjardins set a C$101.00 target price on shares of Sun Life Financial and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 17th. 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 for the company in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$103.00 to C$115.00 in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$84.00 to C$85.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Sun Life Financial has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of C$101.60.

View Our Latest Report on SLF

Sun Life Financial Stock Performance

The company’s 50-day moving average price is C$104.50 and its 200 day moving average price is C$94.28. The stock has a market capitalization of C$62.74 billion, a PE ratio of 21.08, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 32.51, a quick ratio of 84,866.00 and a current ratio of 6.03.

Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLFGet Free Report) (NYSE:SLF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported C$1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The company had revenue of C$8.73 billion during the quarter. Sun Life Financial had a net margin of 9.12% and a return on equity of 12.89%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Sun Life Financial Inc. will post 6.9230769 earnings per share 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. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 30th were paid a $0.96 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 27th. This is a positive change from Sun Life Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. This represents a $3.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.4%. Sun Life Financial’s payout ratio is currently 67.04%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Sun Life Financial news, insider Melissa Jane Kennedy sold 7,366 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$101.49, for a total transaction of C$747,575.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 13,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately C$1,412,334.84. This trade represents a 34.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Also, insider Helena Janina Pagano sold 17,283 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 25th. The stock was 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 directly owned 228 shares in the company, valued at C$23,100.96. This represents a 98.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Insiders have sold 380,998 shares of company stock valued at $38,271,605 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

About Sun Life Financial

(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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