Man Group plc Acquires New Holdings in Manulife Financial Corp $MFC

Man Group plc bought a new position in Manulife Financial Corp (NYSE:MFC) (TSE:MFC) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund bought 3,102,637 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $125,781,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Basepoint Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Manulife Financial during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Addison Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Manulife Financial in the second quarter worth $25,000. First Bancorp Inc ME purchased a new stake in Manulife Financial during the second quarter valued at $26,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in Manulife Financial during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Canerector Inc. increased its position in Manulife Financial by 27.0% during the first quarter. Canerector Inc. now owns 800,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 170,000 shares during the last quarter. 52.56% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on MFC. Zacks Research cut Manulife Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on shares of Manulife Financial from $55.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Scotiabank reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a research note on Friday, August 7th. TD Securities reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Manulife Financial has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $59.00.

Manulife Financial Stock Up 0.8%

NYSE MFC opened at $43.18 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $42.57 and its 200-day moving average price is $38.98. Manulife Financial Corp has a 52 week low of $29.77 and a 52 week high of $45.33. The company has a market capitalization of $71.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.11 and a beta of 0.84.

Manulife Financial (NYSE:MFC) (TSE:MFC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The financial services provider reported $0.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.22 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.28 billion. Manulife Financial had a return on equity of 16.68% and a net margin of 9.99%.The firm’s revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.95 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Manulife Financial Corp will post 3.03 EPS for the current year.

Manulife Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 21st will be given a $0.485 dividend. This represents a $1.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.5%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 21st. Manulife Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.49%.

About Manulife Financial

Manulife Financial Corporation is a multinational insurance and financial services company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. Founded in the late 19th century as The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company, Manulife provides a broad range of financial products and services to individual and institutional clients. Its core businesses include life and health insurance, retirement and pension solutions, wealth and asset management, and group benefits.

In wealth and asset management, Manulife operates through Manulife Investment Management and offers mutual funds, segregated funds, institutional asset management, and retirement plan solutions.