Caldwell Investment Management Ltd. Invests $3.84 Million in Manulife Financial Corp $MFC

Caldwell Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new position in Manulife Financial Corp (NYSE:MFC) (TSE:MFC) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 105,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,835,000. Manulife Financial comprises about 2.3% of Caldwell Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 8th largest holding.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Manulife Financial by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 78,317,970 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,843,882,000 after purchasing an additional 1,606,480 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of Manulife Financial by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 38,181,297 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,388,259,000 after purchasing an additional 542,834 shares during the last quarter. Canerector Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Manulife Financial by 4,445.8% during the 3rd quarter. Canerector Inc. now owns 28,184,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $877,932,000 after purchasing an additional 27,564,000 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of Manulife Financial by 25.6% during the 3rd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 27,822,300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $866,649,000 after purchasing an additional 5,671,639 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Manulife Financial during the 4th quarter valued at $777,229,000. Institutional investors own 52.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on MFC shares. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Manulife Financial from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a report on Thursday, May 28th. TD Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Scotiabank reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a report on Friday, February 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and five have assigned a Buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $51.50.

Manulife Financial Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of Manulife Financial stock opened at $38.83 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $64.80 billion, a PE ratio of 15.41 and a beta of 0.84. Manulife Financial Corp has a 12-month low of $29.70 and a 12-month high of $40.40. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $37.98 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $36.66.

Manulife Financial (NYSE:MFC) (TSE:MFC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 13th. The financial services provider reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $8.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.32 billion. Manulife Financial had a return on equity of 16.58% and a net margin of 10.19%.During the same period last year, the business earned $0.99 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Manulife Financial Corp will post 3.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Manulife Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 29th will be issued a $0.485 dividend. This represents a $1.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 29th. Manulife Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 56.75%.

Manulife Financial Profile

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.