Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) Sets New 1-Year High – Here’s Why

Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as C$20.75 and last traded at C$114.72, with a volume of 936568 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at C$115.73.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on SLF. Evercore lowered Sun Life Financial from an “outperform” rating to a “hold” rating and set a C$111.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Sun Life Financial from C$115.00 to C$131.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Barclays lifted their target price on Sun Life Financial from C$84.00 to C$85.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce raised their price target on Sun Life Financial from C$102.00 to C$116.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$99.00 to C$105.00 in a research note on Friday, May 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Sun Life Financial presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of C$109.36.

Sun Life Financial Stock Down 1.0%

The company has a current ratio of 6.03, a quick ratio of 84,866.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 32.51. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of C$110.07 and a 200 day simple moving average of C$97.79. The company has a market cap of C$63.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.79.

Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported C$1.89 earnings per share for the quarter. The business had revenue of C$8.73 billion during the quarter. Sun Life Financial had a return on equity of 12.89% and a net margin of 9.12%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Sun Life Financial Inc. will post 6.9230769 EPS for the current year.

Sun Life Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th were paid a $0.96 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 27th. This represents a $3.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.4%. This is an increase from Sun Life Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. Sun Life Financial’s payout ratio is currently 67.04%.

Insider Activity at Sun Life Financial

In related news, insider Jacques Jr. Goulet sold 35,000 shares of Sun Life Financial stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$97.80, for a total value of C$3,423,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 1,054 shares in the company, valued at C$103,081.20. The trade was a 97.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Also, insider Helena Janina Pagano sold 17,283 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$101.32, for a total transaction of C$1,751,113.56. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 228 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately C$23,100.96. This trade represents a 98.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Insiders sold a total of 380,998 shares of company stock worth $38,271,605 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.