Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results

Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) posted its earnings results on Wednesday. The financial services provider reported C$1.96 EPS for the quarter, FiscalAI reports. Sun Life Financial had a return on equity of 15.69% and a net margin of 7.58%.

Sun Life Financial Stock Down 0.8%

SLF opened at C$88.07 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is C$85.77 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is C$83.96. The company has a market capitalization of C$48.77 billion, a PE ratio of 16.68, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.73. Sun Life Financial has a 1-year low of C$74.56 and a 1-year high of C$91.11. The company has a current ratio of 92.19, a quick ratio of 84,866.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 26.00.

Sun Life Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st were issued a dividend of $0.92 per share. This is an increase from Sun Life Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. This represents a $3.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 26th. Sun Life Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.15%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SLF has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Scotiabank increased their price objective on Sun Life Financial from C$87.00 to C$93.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce upped their target price on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$93.00 to C$95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$96.00 to C$98.00 in a report on Monday, November 10th. National Bank Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$94.00 to C$93.00 in a report on Thursday, November 6th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of Sun Life Financial to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of C$93.22.

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.