Burney Co. Sells 21,659 Shares of Sun Life Financial Inc. $SLF

Burney Co. reduced its stake in Sun Life Financial Inc. (NYSE:SLF) (TSE:SLF) by 25.4% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 63,651 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 21,659 shares during the period. Burney Co.’s holdings in Sun Life Financial were worth $3,982,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Sun Life Financial in the fourth quarter valued at about $398,037,000. Morgan Stanley grew its position in shares of Sun Life Financial by 86.6% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,952,646 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $246,645,000 after buying an additional 1,834,772 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia increased its stake in shares of Sun Life Financial by 27.1% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 5,991,249 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $373,984,000 after acquiring an additional 1,277,583 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Sun Life Financial by 123.4% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,245,209 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $140,339,000 after acquiring an additional 1,240,241 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alberta Investment Management Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Sun Life Financial in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $57,893,000. 52.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SLF has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Argus set a $81.00 price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial in a report on Wednesday, June 10th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Sun Life Financial in a report on Friday, May 8th. National Bank Financial raised shares of Sun Life Financial from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Sun Life Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Finally, TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Sun Life Financial in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $84.67.

Sun Life Financial Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of NYSE SLF opened at $79.95 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $74.42 and a 200 day moving average price of $67.94. The firm has a market cap of $44.61 billion, a PE ratio of 20.61 and a beta of 0.88. Sun Life Financial Inc. has a 1-year low of $56.22 and a 1-year high of $80.36.

Sun Life Financial (NYSE:SLF) (TSE:SLF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $6.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $925.99 million. Sun Life Financial had a return on equity of 17.80% and a net margin of 7.85%.During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.82 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Sun Life Financial Inc. will post 5.76 EPS for the current year.

Sun Life Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 27th were paid a $0.96 dividend. This represents a $3.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.8%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 27th. This is a positive change from Sun Life Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. Sun Life Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 72.94%.

About Sun Life Financial

Sun Life Financial Inc, founded in 1865 and headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, is an international financial services organization that provides a range of insurance, wealth management and asset management solutions. The company serves individual and institutional clients, offering products designed to protect against life and health risks, help clients save for retirement, and manage investments on behalf of customers and third parties.

Core business activities include life and health insurance, group benefits for employers, retirement and pension products, and wealth management services such as mutual funds and segregated fund solutions.