Manulife Financial Co. (TSE:MFC) Receives C$48.00 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

Shares of Manulife Financial Co. (TSE:MFC) (NYSE:MFC) have received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eight ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is C$48.00.

A number of equities analysts recently commented on MFC shares. TD Securities increased their price objective on Manulife Financial from C$48.00 to C$49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. National Bankshares dropped their price target on shares of Manulife Financial from C$50.00 to C$49.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Manulife Financial from C$49.00 to C$45.00 in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on shares of Manulife Financial from C$53.00 to C$50.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, CIBC lowered their target price on shares of Manulife Financial from C$48.00 to C$46.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st.

Insider Activity

In other Manulife Financial news, Director Anthony Alex Silva acquired 2,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 30th. The stock was acquired at an average price of C$43.77 per share, for a total transaction of C$96,301.92. Also, Director Aimee Decamillo sold 9,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$44.18, for a total value of C$419,748.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 739 shares in the company, valued at C$32,651.98. This represents a 92.78% decrease in their position. Insiders have sold a total of 62,070 shares of company stock worth $2,744,604 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Manulife Financial Stock Performance

Manulife Financial stock opened at C$41.94 on Friday. Manulife Financial has a twelve month low of C$32.87 and a twelve month high of C$46.42. The firm has a market cap of C$73.56 billion, a PE ratio of 13.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.06. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is C$42.65 and its two-hundred day moving average price is C$43.16.

Manulife Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 19th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 19th will be given a $0.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 21st. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.20%. Manulife Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 49.79%.

About Manulife Financial

Manulife provides life insurance and wealth management products and services to individuals and group customers in Canada, the United States, and Asia. Manulife is one of Canada’s Big Three Life Insurance companies (the other two are Sun Life and Great West Life). As of Dec. 31, 2021, Manulife reported assets under management or administration of about CAD $1.4 trillion.