Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) Insider Linda Dougherty Sells 3,500 Shares

Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) insider Linda Dougherty sold 3,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$101.40, for a total value of C$354,900.00.

Linda Dougherty also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Thursday, May 14th, Linda Dougherty purchased 6,740 shares of Sun Life Financial stock. The stock was acquired at an average price of C$97.97 per share, for a total transaction of C$660,317.80.
• On Wednesday, May 13th, Linda Dougherty sold 5,000 shares of Sun Life Financial stock. The shares were sold at an average price of C$97.01, for a total value of C$485,050.00.
• On Wednesday, May 13th, Linda Dougherty sold 5,118 shares of Sun Life Financial stock. The shares were sold at an average price of C$96.49, for a total value of C$493,835.82.

Sun Life Financial Price Performance

Sun Life Financial stock opened at C$99.17 on Friday. Sun Life Financial Inc. has a 1-year low of C$77.38 and a 1-year high of C$101.94. The stock has a market cap of C$54.95 billion, a PE ratio of 18.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.73. The stock’s fifty day moving average is C$93.93 and its two-hundred day moving average is C$88.80.

Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported C$1.89 earnings per share for the quarter. Sun Life Financial had a return on equity of 12.98% and a net margin of 9.12%.The company had revenue of C$8.73 billion for the quarter. On average, research 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 company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be given a dividend of $0.96 per share. This represents a $3.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.9%. This is an increase from Sun Life Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 27th. Sun Life Financial’s payout ratio is presently 67.04%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on SLF shares. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Sun Life Financial from C$103.00 to C$115.00 in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Desjardins set a C$101.00 target price on Sun Life Financial and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 17th. TD lifted their target price on Sun Life Financial from C$102.00 to C$107.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on Sun Life Financial from C$83.00 to C$95.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, National Bank Financial cut their target price on Sun Life Financial from C$109.00 to C$108.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Sun Life Financial presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of C$101.60.

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.