SG Americas Securities LLC Raises Position in Manulife Financial Corp $MFC

SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its stake in shares of Manulife Financial Corp (NYSE:MFC) (TSE:MFC) by 97.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 79,479 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 39,203 shares during the quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in Manulife Financial were worth $2,476,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. grew its holdings in Manulife Financial by 25.8% during the 2nd quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 46,218 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,477,000 after purchasing an additional 9,478 shares in the last quarter. Cidel Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Manulife Financial by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter. Cidel Asset Management Inc. now owns 496,570 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $15,845,000 after buying an additional 14,088 shares during the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Manulife Financial during the second quarter valued at about $4,364,000. CWM LLC increased its position in shares of Manulife Financial by 211.8% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 51,378 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,642,000 after acquiring an additional 34,902 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in shares of Manulife Financial by 44.6% in the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 642,498 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $20,207,000 after acquiring an additional 198,208 shares in the last quarter. 52.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Manulife Financial Trading Down 0.9%

MFC stock opened at $36.80 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $61.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.36 and a beta of 0.83. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $35.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is $32.70. Manulife Financial Corp has a 12-month low of $25.92 and a 12-month high of $37.58.

Manulife Financial (NYSE:MFC) (TSE:MFC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 12th. The financial services provider reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.10. Manulife Financial had a net margin of 9.81% and a return on equity of 16.11%. The company had revenue of $12.90 billion for the quarter. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.00 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Manulife Financial Corp will post 2.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Manulife Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 19th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 26th were paid a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.8%. This is a positive change from Manulife Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 26th. Manulife Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 55.56%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on MFC. Cibc Captl Mkts upgraded Manulife Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a research report on Friday, November 14th. CIBC upgraded shares of Manulife Financial from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Morgan Stanley set a $51.00 price objective on shares of Manulife Financial in a research note on Monday, December 15th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b+)” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a research report on Monday, December 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and six have assigned a Buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $51.50.

Manulife Financial Company Profile

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.