Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) Reaches New 1-Year High – Still a Buy?

Shares of Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) hit a new 52-week high on Friday . The stock traded as high as C$114.53 and last traded at C$113.67, with a volume of 176761 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at C$113.81.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on SLF shares. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce raised their price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$95.00 to C$102.00 in a research note on Friday, May 8th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$99.00 to C$105.00 in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Barclays raised their target price on Sun Life Financial from C$84.00 to C$85.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Sun Life Financial from C$103.00 to C$115.00 in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Desjardins set a C$101.00 price objective on Sun Life Financial and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Sun Life Financial has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of C$101.60.

Sun Life Financial Trading Down 0.1%

The stock has a market capitalization of C$62.99 billion, a PE ratio of 21.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.79. The company’s 50 day moving average price is C$104.16 and its two-hundred day moving average price is C$94.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 32.51, a current ratio of 6.03 and a quick ratio of 84,866.00.

Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported C$1.89 EPS for the quarter. The company had revenue of C$8.73 billion during the quarter. Sun Life Financial had a net margin of 9.12% and a return on equity of 12.89%. As a group, analysts expect that Sun Life Financial Inc. will post 6.9230769 earnings per share for the current year.

Sun Life Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th were paid a $0.96 dividend. This is a boost 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.4%. Sun Life Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 67.04%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Kevin Strain sold 104,744 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$96.99, for a total value of C$10,159,120.56. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 42,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at C$4,073,580. This represents a 71.38% decrease in their position. Also, insider Jacques Jr. Goulet sold 35,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$97.80, for a total transaction of C$3,423,000.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 1,054 shares of the company’s stock, valued at C$103,081.20. This represents a 97.08% decrease in their position. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 380,998 shares of company stock worth $38,271,605. 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.