Maverick Capital Ltd. Purchases Shares of 23,875 Manulife Financial Corp $MFC

Maverick Capital Ltd. purchased a new position in Manulife Financial Corp (NYSE:MFC) (TSE:MFC) in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 23,875 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $823,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Manulife Financial during the 4th quarter valued at about $777,229,000. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund raised its stake in Manulife Financial by 183.7% during the 1st quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 11,702,230 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $402,969,000 after acquiring an additional 7,577,711 shares during the period. MUFG Securities EMEA plc raised its stake in Manulife Financial by 814.3% during the 2nd quarter. MUFG Securities EMEA plc now owns 6,399,999 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $204,544,000 after acquiring an additional 5,699,999 shares during the period. Man Group plc lifted its holdings in Manulife Financial by 194.9% during the fourth quarter. Man Group plc now owns 6,205,598 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $225,597,000 after purchasing an additional 4,101,390 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in Manulife Financial by 1,975.2% during the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,045,488 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $147,312,000 after purchasing an additional 3,850,547 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 52.56% of the company’s stock.

Manulife Financial Stock Performance

MFC stock opened at $44.63 on Wednesday. Manulife Financial Corp has a one year low of $29.70 and a one year high of $44.68. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $40.58 and its 200-day moving average price is $38.06. The company has a market capitalization of $74.18 billion, a PE ratio of 17.71 and a beta of 0.84.

Manulife Financial (NYSE:MFC) (TSE:MFC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 13th. The financial services provider reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $8.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.32 billion. Manulife Financial had a return on equity of 16.58% and a net margin of 10.19%.During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.99 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Manulife Financial Corp will post 3.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Manulife Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 29th were issued a dividend of $0.485 per share. This represents a $1.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 29th. Manulife Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 56.75%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MFC has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Manulife Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. TD Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Weiss Ratings lowered Manulife Financial from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, Scotiabank reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $51.50.

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.