Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) Insider Helena Janina Pagano Sells 17,283 Shares

Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) insider Helena Janina Pagano sold 17,283 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$101.32, for a total transaction of C$1,751,113.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 228 shares in the company, valued at approximately C$23,100.96. This represents a 98.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock.

Sun Life Financial Stock Performance

Shares of SLF stock opened at C$99.17 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is C$93.93 and its 200-day moving average price is C$88.80. Sun Life Financial Inc. has a one year low of C$77.38 and a one year high of C$101.94. The firm has a market cap of C$54.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.73.

Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported C$1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The firm had revenue of C$8.73 billion for the quarter. Sun Life Financial had a return on equity of 12.98% and a net margin of 9.12%. As a group, research analysts predict that Sun Life Financial Inc. will post 6.9230769 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sun Life Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be issued a $0.96 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 27th. This represents a $3.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.9%. This is a boost from Sun Life Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. Sun Life Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 67.04%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SLF has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Barclays increased their price target on Sun Life Financial from C$84.00 to C$85.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$93.00 to C$96.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$103.00 to C$115.00 in a research report on Friday, May 1st. National Bank Financial dropped their target price on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$109.00 to C$108.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, TD Securities dropped their target price on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$104.00 to C$102.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. One equities research 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 given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of C$101.60.

About Sun Life Financial

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.