SageView Advisory Group LLC Purchases Shares of 50,791 Manulife Financial Corp $MFC

SageView Advisory Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Manulife Financial Corp (NYSE:MFC) (TSE:MFC) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 50,791 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,582,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of MFC. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. boosted its position in shares of Manulife Financial by 2.5% during the third quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 6,861,208 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $215,779,000 after buying an additional 166,076 shares during the last quarter. OPTIMAS CAPITAL Ltd bought a new position in Manulife Financial in the third quarter worth $8,021,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in shares of Manulife Financial by 44.6% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 642,498 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $20,207,000 after purchasing an additional 198,208 shares during the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Manulife Financial during the 2nd quarter valued at about $4,364,000. Finally, Summit Global Investments purchased a new position in shares of Manulife Financial in the third quarter valued at about $2,065,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 52.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on MFC. Scotiabank reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a research note on Friday, November 14th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Manulife Financial from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $51.00 target price on shares of Manulife Financial in a research note on Monday, December 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and five have given a Buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Manulife Financial presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $51.50.

Manulife Financial Stock Performance

Shares of MFC opened at $33.76 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $36.58 and its 200 day simple moving average is $34.33. The company has a market capitalization of $56.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.21 and a beta of 0.83. Manulife Financial Corp has a 1 year low of $25.92 and a 1 year high of $38.72.

Manulife Financial (NYSE:MFC) (TSE:MFC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The financial services provider reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.04. Manulife Financial had a return on equity of 16.43% and a net margin of 9.18%.The business had revenue of $11.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.32 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.03 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Manulife Financial Corp will post 2.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Manulife Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 19th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.485 per share. This is a boost from Manulife Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. This represents a $1.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.7%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 25th. Manulife Financial’s payout ratio is presently 63.96%.

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.