Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) Hits New 52-Week High – What’s Next?

Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as C$93.77 and last traded at C$92.85, with a volume of 1787579 shares. The stock had previously closed at C$88.07.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on SLF shares. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$84.00 to C$83.00 in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Desjardins set a C$94.00 target price on Sun Life Financial and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 18th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce upped their price target on Sun Life Financial from C$93.00 to C$95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. TD Securities reduced their price objective on Sun Life Financial from C$104.00 to C$102.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Sun Life Financial from C$96.00 to C$98.00 in a research note on Monday, November 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of C$93.00.

Sun Life Financial Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 26.00, a current ratio of 92.19 and a quick ratio of 84,866.00. The firm has a market capitalization of C$51.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.73, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.73. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of C$85.77 and a two-hundred day moving average price of C$83.96.

Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The financial services provider reported C$1.96 EPS for the quarter. Sun Life Financial had a return on equity of 15.69% and a net margin of 7.58%. As a group, analysts expect that Sun Life Financial Inc. will post 6.9230769 EPS for the current year.

Sun Life Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 31st were issued a $0.92 dividend. This represents a $3.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.9%. This is a boost from Sun Life Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 26th. Sun Life Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 65.15%.

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.