Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) Stock Price Crosses Above 200 Day Moving Average – Time to Sell?

Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) passed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Wednesday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of C$84.82 and traded as high as C$89.41. Sun Life Financial shares last traded at C$89.36, with a volume of 1,461,153 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have issued reports on SLF shares. National Bank Financial decreased their price target on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$94.00 to C$93.00 in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Sun Life Financial from C$93.00 to C$96.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Sun Life Financial from C$97.00 to C$103.00 in a report on Friday, February 13th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Sun Life Financial from C$95.00 to C$100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on Sun Life Financial from C$84.00 to C$83.00 in a research report on Friday, January 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Sun Life Financial has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of C$96.44.

Sun Life Financial Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 2.78, a quick ratio of 84,866.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 74.49. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of C$87.94 and a 200 day simple moving average of C$84.82. The stock has a market capitalization of C$49.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.73.

Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The financial services provider reported C$1.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Sun Life Financial had a net margin of 8.87% and a return on equity of 14.68%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Sun Life Financial Inc. will post 6.9230769 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sun Life Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be paid a $0.92 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.1%. Sun Life Financial’s payout ratio is 57.24%.

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.