Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) Sets New 1-Year High Following Analyst Upgrade

Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high on Friday after National Bank Financial raised their price target on the stock from C$108.00 to C$125.00. National Bank Financial currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Sun Life Financial traded as high as C$116.12 and last traded at C$115.86, with a volume of 284491 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at C$114.76.

SLF has been the subject of a number of other reports. TD lifted their price target on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$107.00 to C$121.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Evercore downgraded shares of Sun Life Financial from an “outperform” rating to a “hold” rating and set a C$111.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$84.00 to C$85.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. Desjardins set a C$101.00 target price on shares of Sun Life Financial and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 17th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Sun Life Financial from C$115.00 to C$131.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of C$109.36.

Insider Transactions at Sun Life Financial

In other news, insider Jacques Jr. Goulet sold 35,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$97.80, for a total value of C$3,423,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 1,054 shares in the company, valued at C$103,081.20. This represents a 97.08% decrease in their position. Also, insider Manjit Singh sold 188,312 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$103.20, for a total transaction of C$19,433,798.40. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 position. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 380,998 shares of company stock worth $38,271,605. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Sun Life Financial Stock Performance

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. The stock has a market cap of C$64.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.79. The business’s 50-day moving average price is C$107.79 and its 200-day moving average price is C$96.26.

Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported C$1.89 EPS for the quarter. The company had revenue of C$8.73 billion for the quarter. Sun Life Financial had a return on equity of 12.89% and a net margin of 9.12%. As a group, sell-side 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 business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th were paid a $0.96 dividend. This represents a $3.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.3%. This is an increase from Sun Life Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 27th. Sun Life Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 67.04%.

About Sun Life Financial

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.