Short Interest in Manulife Financial Corp (NYSE:MFC) Expands By 144.4%

Manulife Financial Corp (NYSE:MFC) (TSE:MFC) was the target of a large increase in short interest during the month of April. As of April 30th, there was short interest totaling 10,937,480 shares, an increase of 144.4% from the April 15th total of 4,475,943 shares. Currently, 0.7% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 1,942,688 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.6 days.

Manulife Financial Trading Up 0.1%

NYSE MFC traded up $0.05 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $37.59. 2,262,794 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,034,942. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $36.46 and a 200-day moving average of $36.02. Manulife Financial has a one year low of $29.70 and a one year high of $40.40. The stock has a market cap of $62.86 billion, a PE ratio of 14.92 and a beta of 0.87.

Manulife Financial (NYSE:MFC) (TSE:MFC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 13th. The financial services provider reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.79 by ($0.02). Manulife Financial had a return on equity of 16.58% and a net margin of 10.19%.The firm had revenue of $8.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.32 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.99 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Manulife Financial will post 3.2 EPS for the current year.

Manulife Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.485 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 29th. This represents a $1.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.2%. Manulife Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 63.96%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Manulife Financial by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 6,861,208 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $215,779,000 after purchasing an additional 166,076 shares during the period. OPTIMAS CAPITAL Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Manulife Financial in the 3rd quarter valued at $8,021,000. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in shares of Manulife Financial by 5.7% in the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 11,541,321 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $359,662,000 after purchasing an additional 621,093 shares during the period. Sienna Gestion lifted its stake in shares of Manulife Financial by 233.6% in the 3rd quarter. Sienna Gestion now owns 556,239 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $15,804,000 after purchasing an additional 389,500 shares during the period. Finally, Allianz SE acquired a new position in shares of Manulife Financial in the 3rd quarter valued at $879,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 52.56% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MFC has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Scotiabank restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a research report on Friday, February 13th. TD Securities restated a “buy” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Manulife Financial from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and six have issued a Buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Manulife Financial has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $51.50.

Manulife Financial Company 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.