Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) Director Kevin Strain Sells 2,935 Shares of Stock

Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) Director Kevin Strain sold 2,935 shares of Sun Life Financial stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$96.55, for a total value of C$283,374.25. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 42,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at C$4,055,100. The trade was a 6.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock.

Kevin Strain also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, May 12th, Kevin Strain sold 104,744 shares of Sun Life Financial stock. The stock was sold at an average price of C$96.99, for a total transaction of C$10,159,120.56.

Sun Life Financial Stock Performance

TSE SLF opened at C$97.01 on Thursday. Sun Life Financial Inc. has a one year low of C$77.38 and a one year high of C$101.15. The company has a market capitalization of C$53.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.73. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is C$91.18 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is C$87.70.

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

Sun Life Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.96 per share. This is an increase from Sun Life Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. This represents a $3.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 27th. Sun Life Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 67.04%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SLF has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. TD Securities cut their price target on Sun Life Financial from C$104.00 to C$102.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 12th. TD raised their price objective on Sun Life Financial from C$102.00 to C$107.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce lifted their target price on Sun Life Financial from C$95.00 to C$102.00 in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$103.00 to C$115.00 in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$83.00 to C$95.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Sun Life Financial currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of C$101.60.

Sun Life Financial Company Profile

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.