Brokerages Set Manulife Financial Co. (TSE:MFC) PT at C$51.25

Shares of Manulife Financial Co. (TSE:MFC) (NYSE:MFC) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is C$51.25.

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on Manulife Financial from C$49.00 to C$52.00 in a research report on Friday, November 14th. National Bankshares lifted their target price on shares of Manulife Financial from C$47.00 to C$52.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Barclays increased their price objective on Manulife Financial from C$47.00 to C$48.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. TD Securities lifted their target price on shares of Manulife Financial from C$54.00 to C$57.00 in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. Finally, UBS Group raised Manulife Financial to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Manulife Financial news, insider Shamus Edward Weiland sold 88,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$48.95, for a total transaction of C$4,332,075.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 53,495 shares in the company, valued at approximately C$2,618,580.25. This represents a 62.33% decrease in their position. Also, insider Rahim Hirji sold 25,048 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of C$48.25, for a total transaction of C$1,208,566.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 31,315 shares in the company, valued at approximately C$1,510,948.75. The trade was a 44.44% decrease in their position. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Manulife Financial Stock Down 0.1%

MFC opened at C$49.80 on Wednesday. Manulife Financial has a twelve month low of C$36.93 and a twelve month high of C$50.50. The company’s 50-day moving average price is C$48.44 and its two-hundred day moving average price is C$44.89. The stock has a market cap of C$83.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.96, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.01.

Manulife Financial (TSE:MFC) (NYSE:MFC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 12th. The financial services provider reported C$1.16 EPS for the quarter. The company had revenue of C$26.23 billion for the quarter. Manulife Financial had a net margin of 12.52% and a return on equity of 11.75%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Manulife Financial will post 3.6104452 earnings per share for the current year.

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.