Manulife Financial Co. (NYSE:MFC) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Manulife Financial Co. (NYSE:MFC – Get Rating) (TSE:MFC) saw a large increase in short interest in the month of April. As of April 30th, there was short interest totalling 16,800,000 shares, an increase of 21.7% from the April 15th total of 13,800,000 shares. Approximately 0.9% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 3,300,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.1 days.

Institutional Trading of Manulife Financial

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MFC. BlackRock Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Manulife Financial by 10.1% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 878,359 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $18,753,000 after acquiring an additional 80,450 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. raised its position in Manulife Financial by 7.9% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 27,503 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $587,000 after purchasing an additional 2,013 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers purchased a new position in Manulife Financial in the 1st quarter worth $428,000. Moors & Cabot Inc. raised its position in Manulife Financial by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 43,078 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $920,000 after purchasing an additional 956 shares during the period. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in Manulife Financial by 32.7% in the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 14,560 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $311,000 after purchasing an additional 3,585 shares during the period. 43.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MFC has been the subject of several analyst reports. TD Securities raised their price objective on shares of Manulife Financial from C$30.00 to C$32.00 in a report on Thursday, February 16th. Desjardins raised their price target on shares of Manulife Financial from C$26.00 to C$28.00 in a report on Friday, February 17th. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Manulife Financial from C$27.00 to C$34.00 in a report on Monday, January 30th. National Bank Financial raised their price target on shares of Manulife Financial from C$26.00 to C$27.00 in a report on Thursday, February 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Manulife Financial from C$26.00 to C$28.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 17th.

Manulife Financial Stock Performance

NYSE MFC opened at $18.88 on Monday. Manulife Financial has a 52-week low of $14.92 and a 52-week high of $20.40. The company has a market capitalization of $34.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.70, a P/E/G ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a fifty day moving average of $18.89 and a 200-day moving average of $18.55.

Manulife Financial (NYSE:MFC – Get Rating) (TSE:MFC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $11.34 billion for the quarter. As a group, analysts forecast that Manulife Financial will post 2.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Manulife Financial Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 19th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 24th will be issued a dividend of $0.269 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.70%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 23rd. Manulife Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 38.65%.

Manulife Financial Company Profile

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Manulife Financial Corp. engages in the provision of financial services. It operates through the following segments: Asia, Canada, U.S., Global Wealth and Asset Management, and Corporate and Other. The Asia segment refers to insurance and insurance-based wealth accumulation products in Asia. The Canada segment offers insurance-based wealth accumulation products and banking services in Canada.