Scotiabank Boosts Manulife Financial (TSE:MFC) Price Target to C$56.00

Manulife Financial (TSE:MFC) (NYSE:MFC) had its price target raised by Scotiabank from C$55.00 to C$56.00 in a report released on Friday,BayStreet.CA reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Scotiabank’s price target points to a potential upside of 11.84% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada set a C$52.00 target price on Manulife Financial and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 19th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Manulife Financial from C$49.00 to C$52.00 in a research report on Friday, January 9th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Manulife Financial to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Manulife Financial from C$54.00 to C$58.00 in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, TD Securities lowered their target price on Manulife Financial from C$60.00 to C$59.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Manulife Financial presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of C$55.63.

Manulife Financial Stock Up 2.8%

Shares of TSE MFC opened at C$50.07 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is C$50.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is C$46.71. The company has a market cap of C$83.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.99. Manulife Financial has a 12-month low of C$36.93 and a 12-month high of C$52.97.

Manulife Financial (TSE:MFC) (NYSE:MFC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The financial services provider reported C$1.12 earnings per share for the quarter. Manulife Financial had a return on equity of 11.75% and a net margin of 12.52%.The firm had revenue of C$22.03 billion for the quarter. On average, equities analysts expect that Manulife Financial will post 3.6104452 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Manulife Financial news, insider Shamus Edward Weiland sold 88,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$48.95, for a total value of C$4,332,075.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 53,495 shares in the company, valued at C$2,618,580.25. This trade represents a 62.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Also, insider Rahim Hirji sold 25,048 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of C$48.25, for a total value of C$1,208,566.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 31,315 shares in the company, valued at approximately C$1,510,948.75. This represents a 44.44% decrease in their position. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.