Manulife Financial Co. (TSE:MFC) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Manulife Financial Co. (TSE:MFC) (NYSE:MFC) has received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eight research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, five have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is C$49.78.

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price objective on Manulife Financial from C$51.00 to C$49.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 8th. Desjardins increased their price target on shares of Manulife Financial from C$48.00 to C$52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. CIBC boosted their price objective on shares of Manulife Financial from C$44.00 to C$49.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. TD Securities upped their target price on shares of Manulife Financial from C$50.00 to C$54.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of Manulife Financial to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Manulife Financial

In other news, insider Paul Lorentz sold 178,425 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately C$3,349,067. The trade was a 69.06% decrease in their position. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 179,582 shares of company stock valued at $7,516,321. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Manulife Financial Stock Performance

Shares of MFC stock opened at C$46.85 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of C$79.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.11, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.94. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of C$44.36 and a 200 day moving average price of C$43.33. Manulife Financial has a 12 month low of C$36.93 and a 12 month high of C$47.25.

Manulife Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 19th were issued a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 20th. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.8%. Manulife Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.19%.

Manulife Financial Company Profile

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.