United Capital Financial Advisors LLC Invests $479,000 in Manulife Financial Corp $MFC

United Capital Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Manulife Financial Corp (NYSE:MFC) (TSE:MFC) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 11,835 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $479,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MFC. Addison Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Manulife Financial during the second quarter worth about $25,000. First Bancorp Inc ME purchased a new stake in shares of Manulife Financial in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Basepoint Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Manulife Financial in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Manulife Financial in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Sfam LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Manulife Financial during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 52.56% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on MFC shares. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Manulife Financial from $55.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. TD Securities reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Scotiabank reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a research note on Friday, August 7th. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Manulife Financial from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (a)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Manulife Financial has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $59.00.

Manulife Financial Trading Down 0.8%

MFC opened at $42.40 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $42.76 and its 200 day moving average price is $39.12. Manulife Financial Corp has a 12-month low of $30.20 and a 12-month high of $45.33. The firm has a market cap of $70.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.82 and a beta of 0.84.

Manulife Financial (NYSE:MFC) (TSE:MFC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The financial services provider reported $0.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.22 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.28 billion. Manulife Financial had a return on equity of 16.68% and a net margin of 9.99%.Manulife Financial’s revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.95 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Manulife Financial Corp will post 3.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Manulife Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 21st. Investors of record on Friday, August 21st will be issued a $0.485 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 21st. This represents a $1.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.6%. Manulife Financial’s payout ratio is 51.49%.

About Manulife Financial

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.