Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) Hits New 1-Year High – Here’s What Happened

Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as C$106.47 and last traded at C$105.67, with a volume of 730208 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at C$104.47.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on SLF shares. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$84.00 to C$85.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Desjardins set a C$101.00 target price on shares of Sun Life Financial and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Scotiabank boosted their price target 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. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Sun Life Financial from C$103.00 to C$115.00 in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, TD lifted their price objective on Sun Life Financial from C$102.00 to C$107.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of C$101.60.

Sun Life Financial Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of C$59.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.93, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.84. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is C$97.42 and its 200-day simple moving average is C$90.28.

Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported C$1.89 EPS for the quarter. The company had revenue of C$8.73 billion for the quarter. Sun Life Financial had a net margin of 9.12% and a return on equity of 12.98%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate 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. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be given a dividend of $0.96 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 27th. This represents a $3.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.6%. This is a positive change from Sun Life Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. Sun Life Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 67.04%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Linda Dougherty sold 3,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$101.40, for a total value of C$354,900.00. Also, insider Melissa Jane Kennedy sold 7,366 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$101.49, for a total value of C$747,575.34. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 13,916 shares in the company, valued at C$1,412,334.84. This trade represents a 34.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Insiders have sold a total of 380,998 shares of company stock valued at $38,271,605 in the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.