HB Wealth Management LLC Purchases 17,076 Shares of Manulife Financial Corp $MFC

HB Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Manulife Financial Corp (NYSE:MFC) (TSE:MFC) by 42.8% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 57,011 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 17,076 shares during the quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Manulife Financial were worth $1,776,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Manulife Financial during the 2nd quarter valued at about $632,238,000. MUFG Securities EMEA plc grew its holdings in shares of Manulife Financial by 814.3% during the 2nd quarter. MUFG Securities EMEA plc now owns 6,399,999 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $204,544,000 after purchasing an additional 5,699,999 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Manulife Financial by 19.4% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,008,595 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $453,798,000 after purchasing an additional 2,276,251 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Manulife Financial by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 76,336,875 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,440,795,000 after purchasing an additional 2,003,226 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Picton Mahoney Asset Management purchased a new stake in Manulife Financial during the second quarter worth about $63,255,000. 52.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Manulife Financial Stock Performance

NYSE MFC opened at $37.39 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $62.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.62 and a beta of 0.83. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $35.27 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $32.62. Manulife Financial Corp has a twelve month low of $25.92 and a twelve month high of $37.58.

Manulife Financial (NYSE:MFC) (TSE:MFC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 12th. The financial services provider reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $12.90 billion for the quarter. Manulife Financial had a net margin of 9.81% and a return on equity of 16.11%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.00 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Manulife Financial Corp will post 2.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Manulife Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 19th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 26th were paid a $0.44 dividend. This is an increase from Manulife Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 26th. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.7%. Manulife Financial’s payout ratio is 55.56%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MFC has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Cibc Captl Mkts raised shares of Manulife Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a research report on Friday, November 14th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b+)” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Manulife Financial from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $51.00 price target on Manulife Financial in a report on Monday, December 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and six have given a Buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $51.50.

Manulife Financial Company Profile

Manulife Financial Corporation is a multinational insurance and financial services company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. Founded in the late 19th century as The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company, Manulife provides a broad range of financial products and services to individual and institutional clients. Its core businesses include life and health insurance, retirement and pension solutions, wealth and asset management, and group benefits.

In wealth and asset management, Manulife operates through Manulife Investment Management and offers mutual funds, segregated funds, institutional asset management, and retirement plan solutions.