Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) Sets New 52-Week High After Analyst Upgrade

Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) hit a new 52-week high on Friday after Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on the stock from C$103.00 to C$115.00. The stock traded as high as C$98.88 and last traded at C$98.54, with a volume of 202329 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at C$97.87.

Several other brokerages have also weighed in on SLF. Desjardins set a C$101.00 price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 17th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$84.00 to C$85.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. TD Securities dropped their price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$104.00 to C$102.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$93.00 to C$96.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$95.00 to C$100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of C$99.78.

Sun Life Financial Stock Up 0.4%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 74.49, a quick ratio of 84,866.00 and a current ratio of 2.78. The company has a market cap of C$54.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.69. The stock’s fifty day moving average is C$90.10 and its two-hundred day moving average is C$87.14.

Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The financial services provider reported C$1.96 earnings per share for the quarter. Sun Life Financial had a net margin of 9.74% and a return on equity of 14.68%. The company had revenue of C$8.67 billion for the quarter. Sell-side analysts predict that Sun Life Financial Inc. will post 6.9230769 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sun Life Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 31st were issued a $0.92 dividend. This represents a $3.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 25th. Sun Life Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 57.24%.

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.