Tacita Capital Inc Acquires Shares of 29,161 Manulife Financial Corp $MFC

Tacita Capital Inc bought a new position in shares of Manulife Financial Corp (NYSE:MFC) (TSE:MFC) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 29,161 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,180,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Manulife Financial by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 78,317,970 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,843,882,000 after buying an additional 1,606,480 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its position in shares of Manulife Financial by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 38,181,297 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,388,259,000 after buying an additional 542,834 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its stake in Manulife Financial by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 28,550,943 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,041,431,000 after buying an additional 728,643 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Manulife Financial in the fourth quarter valued at about $777,229,000. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its position in Manulife Financial by 14.6% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 16,885,459 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $616,479,000 after acquiring an additional 2,145,099 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 52.56% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on MFC shares. TD Securities reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Manulife Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a report on Friday, August 7th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Manulife Financial from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Scotiabank reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $59.00.

Manulife Financial Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MFC opened at $43.49 on Thursday. Manulife Financial Corp has a 52-week low of $29.70 and a 52-week high of $45.33. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $42.38 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $38.84. The stock has a market cap of $72.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.23 and a beta of 0.84.

Manulife Financial (NYSE:MFC) (TSE:MFC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The financial services provider reported $0.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $2.22 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.28 billion. Manulife Financial had a net margin of 9.99% and a return on equity of 16.68%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.95 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Manulife Financial Corp will post 3.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Manulife Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 21st. Investors of record on Friday, August 21st will be given a dividend of $0.485 per share. This represents a $1.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 21st. Manulife Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 53.36%.

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.