Insider Selling: Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) Insider Sells 35,000 Shares of Stock

Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) insider Jacques Jr. Goulet sold 35,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were 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 owned 1,054 shares in the company, valued at approximately C$103,081.20. This represents a 97.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock.

Jacques Jr. Goulet also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, May 11th, Jacques Jr. Goulet sold 11,740 shares of Sun Life Financial stock. The stock was sold at an average price of C$97.09, for a total value of C$1,139,836.60.

Sun Life Financial Price Performance

Shares of SLF traded up C$0.34 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching C$98.64. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 479,320 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,985,240. Sun Life Financial Inc. has a 12-month low of C$77.38 and a 12-month high of C$101.15. The stock has a market cap of C$54.65 billion, a PE ratio of 18.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.73. The company’s 50 day moving average is C$91.38 and its 200 day moving average is C$87.78.

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

Sun Life Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be given a dividend of $0.96 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 27th. This represents a $3.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.9%. This is a boost from Sun Life Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. Sun Life Financial’s payout ratio is presently 67.04%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of 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. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$99.00 to C$105.00 in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on 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. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce lifted their target price on Sun Life Financial from C$95.00 to C$102.00 in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, TD boosted their target price on Sun Life Financial from C$102.00 to C$107.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Sun Life Financial presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of C$101.60.

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.