Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) Shares Cross Above 200 Day Moving Average – Time to Sell?

Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF)’s share price passed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Tuesday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of C$83.80 and traded as high as C$88.10. Sun Life Financial shares last traded at C$87.84, with a volume of 1,933,864 shares changing hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on SLF shares. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$99.00 to C$95.00 in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Desjardins set a C$94.00 price target on Sun Life Financial and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 18th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a C$84.00 price objective on Sun Life Financial and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 19th. TD Securities lifted their target price on Sun Life Financial from C$99.00 to C$104.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on Sun Life Financial from C$84.00 to C$83.00 in a research note on Friday, January 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of C$92.11.

Sun Life Financial Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of C$48.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.64, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.73. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is C$84.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is C$83.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 26.00, a current ratio of 92.19 and a quick ratio of 84,866.00.

Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The financial services provider reported C$1.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Sun Life Financial had a net margin of 7.58% and a return on equity of 15.69%. The company had revenue of C$9.07 billion during the quarter. Research analysts expect that Sun Life Financial Inc. will post 6.9230769 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sun Life Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st were given a $0.92 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 26th. This is a positive change from Sun Life Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. This represents a $3.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.2%. Sun Life Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 65.15%.

Sun Life Financial Company Profile

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.