Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) Director Kevin Strain Sells 104,744 Shares

Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) Director Kevin Strain sold 104,744 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$96.99, for a total transaction of C$10,159,120.56. Following the transaction, the director owned 42,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately C$4,073,580. This trade represents a 71.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock.

Kevin Strain also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, May 11th, Kevin Strain sold 2,935 shares of Sun Life Financial stock. The stock was sold at an average price of C$96.55, for a total transaction of C$283,374.25.

Sun Life Financial Price Performance

Shares of SLF traded up C$0.26 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching C$97.01. 935,475 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,003,395. The stock has a market capitalization of C$53.75 billion, a PE ratio of 18.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.73. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is C$91.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is C$87.70. Sun Life Financial Inc. has a 52-week low of C$77.38 and a 52-week high of C$101.15.

Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported C$1.89 earnings per share for the quarter. Sun Life Financial had a return on equity of 12.98% and a net margin of 9.12%.The firm had revenue of C$8.73 billion during the quarter. Equities research analysts predict 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.96 per share. This is a boost from Sun Life Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. This represents a $3.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 27th. Sun Life Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 67.04%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on SLF shares. National Bank Financial decreased their price target on Sun Life Financial from C$109.00 to C$108.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Barclays increased their price target on Sun Life Financial from C$84.00 to C$85.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Sun Life Financial from C$103.00 to C$115.00 in a report on Friday, May 1st. Scotiabank increased their price target on Sun Life Financial from C$93.00 to C$96.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce increased their price target on Sun Life Financial from C$95.00 to C$102.00 in a report on Friday, May 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of C$101.60.

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.