Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) Insider Linda Dougherty Purchases 6,740 Shares of Stock

Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) insider Linda Dougherty bought 6,740 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of C$97.97 per share, with a total value of C$660,317.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 13,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately C$1,320,635.60. This trade represents a 100.00% increase in their ownership of the stock.

Linda Dougherty also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, May 13th, Linda Dougherty sold 5,000 shares of Sun Life Financial stock. The shares were sold at an average price of C$97.01, for a total value of C$485,050.00.
• On Wednesday, May 13th, Linda Dougherty sold 5,118 shares of Sun Life Financial stock. The stock was sold at an average price of C$96.49, for a total value of C$493,835.82.

Sun Life Financial Trading Up 0.7%

Sun Life Financial stock opened at C$99.03 on Friday. Sun Life Financial Inc. has a twelve month low of C$77.38 and a twelve month high of C$101.15. The stock has a 50 day moving average of C$91.57 and a two-hundred day moving average of C$87.86. The stock has a market capitalization of C$54.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.44, a PEG 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 for the quarter. Sun Life Financial had a return on equity of 12.98% and a net margin of 9.12%.The company had revenue of C$8.73 billion during the quarter. Equities analysts predict that Sun Life Financial Inc. will post 6.9230769 earnings per share for the current year.

Sun Life Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be given a dividend of $0.96 per share. This represents a $3.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 27th. This is a positive change from Sun Life Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. Sun Life Financial’s payout ratio is 67.04%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on SLF. Scotiabank increased their price objective on Sun Life Financial from C$93.00 to C$96.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. TD Securities decreased their price objective on Sun Life Financial from C$104.00 to C$102.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Barclays increased their price objective on Sun Life Financial from C$84.00 to C$85.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Sun Life Financial from C$103.00 to C$115.00 in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce increased their target price on Sun Life Financial from C$95.00 to C$102.00 in a research note on Friday, May 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Sun Life Financial presently 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.