Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) Sets New 12-Month High – Time to Buy?

Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) shares hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as C$19.00 and last traded at C$86.69, with a volume of 228974 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at C$87.40.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SLF has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$99.00 to C$95.00 in a report on Monday, November 10th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$96.00 to C$98.00 in a research note on Monday, November 10th. CIBC boosted their price target on Sun Life Financial from C$93.00 to C$95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Desjardins set a C$94.00 price objective on Sun Life Financial and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 18th. Finally, UBS Group raised Sun Life Financial to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Sun Life Financial currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of C$91.56.

Sun Life Financial Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 92.19, a quick ratio of 84,866.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 26.00. The firm has a market cap of C$48.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.43, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.77. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of C$83.89 and a 200-day simple moving average of C$83.85.

Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The financial services provider reported C$1.86 EPS for the quarter. Sun Life Financial had a return on equity of 15.69% and a net margin of 7.58%.The firm had revenue of C$9.07 billion during the quarter. As a group, analysts forecast that Sun Life Financial Inc. will post 6.9230769 EPS for the current year.

Sun Life Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st were issued a $0.92 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 26th. This represents a $3.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.2%. This is an increase from Sun Life Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. 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.