Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) Shares Pass Above Two Hundred Day Moving Average – What’s Next?

Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF)’s stock price passed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Thursday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of C$94.15 and traded as high as C$113.92. Sun Life Financial shares last traded at C$113.81, with a volume of 811,236 shares traded.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on SLF. National Bank Financial cut their price objective on Sun Life Financial from C$109.00 to C$108.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Barclays increased their target price on Sun Life Financial from C$84.00 to C$85.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. Desjardins set a C$101.00 price target on Sun Life Financial and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 17th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Sun Life Financial from C$103.00 to C$115.00 in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce upped their price target on Sun Life Financial from C$95.00 to C$102.00 in a research report on Friday, May 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of C$101.60.

Sun Life Financial Trading Up 1.2%

The company has a current ratio of 6.03, a quick ratio of 84,866.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 32.51. The business’s 50-day moving average is C$104.16 and its two-hundred day moving average is C$94.15. The firm has a market cap of C$63.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.79.

Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported C$1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Sun Life Financial had a net margin of 9.12% and a return on equity of 12.89%. The firm had revenue of C$8.73 billion for the quarter. As a group, 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 business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th were given a dividend of $0.96 per share. This represents a $3.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 27th. This is a positive change from Sun Life Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. Sun Life Financial’s payout ratio is currently 67.04%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Manjit Singh sold 188,312 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$103.20, for a total transaction of C$19,433,798.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 547 shares in the company, valued at C$56,450.40. This represents a 99.71% decrease in their position. Also, insider Helena Janina Pagano sold 17,283 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$101.32, for a total value of C$1,751,113.56. Following the transaction, the insider owned 228 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately C$23,100.96. The trade was a 98.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 380,998 shares of company stock worth $38,271,605. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by 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.