Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) Hits New 52-Week High – Time to Buy?

Shares of Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as C$20.30 and last traded at C$100.84, with a volume of 1644234 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at C$100.26.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on SLF shares. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$84.00 to C$85.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Desjardins set a C$101.00 price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 17th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$99.00 to C$105.00 in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce boosted their price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$95.00 to C$102.00 in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, TD boosted their price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$102.00 to C$107.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. 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 assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Sun Life Financial currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of C$101.60.

Sun Life Financial Price Performance

The company’s 50-day simple moving average is C$92.25 and its 200-day simple moving average is C$88.14. The stock has a market capitalization of C$55.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.73.

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

Sun Life Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.8%. This is an increase from Sun Life Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 27th. Sun Life Financial’s payout ratio is currently 67.04%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Sun Life Financial news, Director Kevin Strain sold 104,744 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$96.99, for a total transaction of C$10,159,120.56. Following the sale, the director directly owned 42,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately C$4,073,580. This represents a 71.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Also, insider Linda Dougherty purchased 6,740 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of C$97.97 per share, for a total transaction of C$660,317.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 13,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately C$1,320,635.60. This represents a 100.00% increase in their position. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 164,537 shares of company stock valued at $15,984,217. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.