Legal & General Group Plc Has $243.54 Million Stock Position in Sun Life Financial Inc. $SLF

Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in Sun Life Financial Inc. (NYSE:SLF) (TSE:SLF) by 1.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,896,312 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 36,698 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Sun Life Financial were worth $243,542,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Sun Life Financial by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,884,084 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,615,788,000 after buying an additional 534,772 shares during the last quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Sun Life Financial by 6.3% in the 3rd quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. now owns 3,303,733 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $197,709,000 after buying an additional 196,675 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Sun Life Financial by 9.8% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,733,974 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $164,120,000 after buying an additional 243,323 shares during the last quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Sun Life Financial by 10.9% in the 4th quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 2,187,623 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $136,438,000 after buying an additional 215,811 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Intact Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Sun Life Financial by 58.3% in the 4th quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,012,083 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $125,598,000 after buying an additional 741,136 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 52.26% of the company’s stock.

Sun Life Financial Price Performance

SLF stock opened at $72.59 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.71 and a beta of 0.91. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $68.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $64.40. Sun Life Financial Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $56.22 and a fifty-two week high of $74.16.

Sun Life Financial (NYSE:SLF) (TSE:SLF) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $6.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $925.99 million. Sun Life Financial had a return on equity of 17.80% and a net margin of 7.85%.During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.82 EPS. Research analysts expect that Sun Life Financial Inc. will post 5.74 EPS for the current year.

Sun Life Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 27th will be given a dividend of $0.96 per share. This represents a $3.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.3%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 27th. This is a positive change from Sun Life Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. Sun Life Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 69.59%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on SLF. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Sun Life Financial in a report on Friday, May 8th. TD Securities reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Sun Life Financial in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Scotiabank reissued a “sector perform” rating on shares of Sun Life Financial in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Sun Life Financial in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating on shares of Sun Life Financial in a report on Friday, February 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $86.50.

Sun Life Financial Company Profile

Sun Life Financial Inc, founded in 1865 and headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, is an international financial services organization that provides a range of insurance, wealth management and asset management solutions. The company serves individual and institutional clients, offering products designed to protect against life and health risks, help clients save for retirement, and manage investments on behalf of customers and third parties.

Core business activities include life and health insurance, group benefits for employers, retirement and pension products, and wealth management services such as mutual funds and segregated fund solutions.