Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) Sets New 12-Month High Following Dividend Announcement

Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF)’s share price hit a new 52-week high on Wednesday following a dividend announcement from the company. The stock traded as high as C$19.20 and last traded at C$89.06, with a volume of 503718 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at C$88.96.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.92 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.1%. Sun Life Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 57.24%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Scotiabank lifted their target price on Sun Life Financial from C$93.00 to C$96.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce lifted their price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$93.00 to C$95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$83.00 to C$95.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. National Bank Financial dropped their price target on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$94.00 to C$93.00 in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. Finally, Desjardins upped their price objective on Sun Life Financial from C$96.00 to C$101.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of C$96.44.

Sun Life Financial Trading Up 0.0%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 26.00, a quick ratio of 84,866.00 and a current ratio of 92.19. The company’s 50-day moving average price is C$87.44 and its 200-day moving average price is C$84.45. The firm has a market capitalization of C$49.29 billion, a PE ratio of 14.47, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.73.

Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The financial services provider reported C$1.96 EPS for the quarter. Sun Life Financial had a return on equity of 15.69% and a net margin of 7.58%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Sun Life Financial Inc. will post 6.9230769 earnings per share for the current year.

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.