Assetmark Inc. Cuts Stock Position in Manulife Financial Corp $MFC

Assetmark Inc. lessened its position in shares of Manulife Financial Corp (NYSE:MFC) (TSE:MFC) by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 620,473 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 17,663 shares during the quarter. Assetmark Inc.’s holdings in Manulife Financial were worth $19,328,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Manulife Financial in the second quarter valued at about $632,238,000. MUFG Securities EMEA plc boosted its holdings in Manulife Financial by 814.3% in the 2nd quarter. MUFG Securities EMEA plc now owns 6,399,999 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $204,544,000 after buying an additional 5,699,999 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Manulife Financial by 19.4% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,008,595 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $453,798,000 after purchasing an additional 2,276,251 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Manulife Financial by 2.7% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 76,336,875 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,440,795,000 after buying an additional 2,003,226 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Picton Mahoney Asset Management acquired a new position in Manulife Financial during the second quarter worth about $63,255,000. 52.56% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MFC has been the subject of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley set a $51.00 target price on Manulife Financial in a report on Monday, December 15th. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a research report on Friday, November 14th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce upgraded shares of Manulife Financial from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a report on Friday. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Manulife Financial from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and five have issued a Buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $51.50.

Manulife Financial Trading Up 2.6%

MFC opened at $36.74 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $36.85 and its 200 day moving average price is $33.73. Manulife Financial Corp has a 12-month low of $25.92 and a 12-month high of $38.72. The firm has a market cap of $61.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.55 and a beta of 0.83.

Manulife Financial (NYSE:MFC) (TSE:MFC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The financial services provider reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $11.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.32 billion. Manulife Financial had a net margin of 9.18% and a return on equity of 16.43%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.03 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Manulife Financial Corp will post 2.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Manulife Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 19th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 25th will be issued a dividend of $0.485 per share. This is a boost from Manulife Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 25th. This represents a $1.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.3%. Manulife Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 56.31%.

About Manulife Financial

Manulife Financial Corporation is a multinational insurance and financial services company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. Founded in the late 19th century as The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company, Manulife provides a broad range of financial products and services to individual and institutional clients. Its core businesses include life and health insurance, retirement and pension solutions, wealth and asset management, and group benefits.

In wealth and asset management, Manulife operates through Manulife Investment Management and offers mutual funds, segregated funds, institutional asset management, and retirement plan solutions.