Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) Receives C$77.18 Average PT from Brokerages

Shares of Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) have received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eight brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is C$77.18.

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on SLF shares. CIBC boosted their target price on Sun Life Financial from C$77.00 to C$80.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$70.00 to C$80.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$76.00 to C$77.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$82.00 to C$83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, TD Securities raised their price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$73.00 to C$75.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th.

Insider Transactions at Sun Life Financial

In related news, Senior Officer Daniel Fishbein sold 16,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$74.45, for a total value of C$1,191,120.00. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Sun Life Financial Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of TSE SLF opened at C$72.65 on Thursday. Sun Life Financial has a 1-year low of C$61.84 and a 1-year high of C$74.94. The company has a 50-day moving average of C$72.32 and a two-hundred day moving average of C$69.85. The company has a market cap of C$42.32 billion, a PE ratio of 13.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a current ratio of 6.81, a quick ratio of 84,866.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 78.47.

Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The financial services provider reported C$1.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of C$1.59 by C$0.09. Sun Life Financial had a net margin of 10.26% and a return on equity of 13.98%. The business had revenue of C$18.68 billion during the quarter. As a group, equities analysts expect that Sun Life Financial will post 6.9056785 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sun Life Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 28th were paid a $0.78 dividend. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.29%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 27th. This is an increase from Sun Life Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Sun Life Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 59.32%.

Sun Life Financial Company Profile

Sun Life Financial Inc, a financial services company, provides savings, retirement, and pension products worldwide. The company operates in five segments: Asset Management, Canada, U.S., Asia, and Corporate. It offers various insurance products, such as term and permanent life; personal health, which includes prescription drugs, dental, and vision care; critical illness; long-term care; and disability, as well as reinsurance.