Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) Price Target Raised to C$119.00

Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) had its target price increased by Royal Bank Of Canada from C$98.00 to C$119.00 in a report released on Monday morning,BayStreet.CA reports. Royal Bank Of Canada currently has a sector perform rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on SLF. Evercore downgraded Sun Life Financial from an “outperform” rating to a “hold” rating and set a C$111.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, July 13th. Scotiabank raised their target price on Sun Life Financial from C$98.00 to C$111.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce raised their target price on Sun Life Financial from C$102.00 to C$116.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Sun Life Financial from C$131.00 to C$141.00 in a research report on Monday. Finally, National Bank Financial upped their price target on Sun Life Financial from C$108.00 to C$125.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Sun Life Financial presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of C$116.00.

Sun Life Financial Stock Performance

Shares of Sun Life Financial stock opened at C$111.90 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of C$111.79 and a two-hundred day moving average of C$98.94. The stock has a market capitalization of C$61.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.97, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.80. Sun Life Financial has a 52 week low of C$79.15 and a 52 week high of C$118.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 34.34, a quick ratio of 84,866.00 and a current ratio of 27.38.

Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported C$2.02 earnings per share for the quarter. Sun Life Financial had a return on equity of 13.89% and a net margin of 8.81%.The company had revenue of C$9.05 billion for the quarter. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Sun Life Financial will post 6.9230769 EPS for the current year.

Sun Life Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th were issued a $0.96 dividend. This is a positive change from Sun Life Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 27th. This represents a $3.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. Sun Life Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 62.37%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Sun Life Financial news, insider Melissa Jane Kennedy sold 7,366 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$101.49, for a total value of C$747,575.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 13,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately C$1,412,334.84. The trade was a 34.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Also, insider Linda Dougherty sold 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$101.40, for a total value of C$354,900.00. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 216,461 shares of company stock valued at $22,287,387. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.