The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Invests $293.05 Million in Sun Life Financial Inc. $SLF

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company bought a new position in shares of Sun Life Financial Inc. (NYSE:SLF) (TSE:SLF) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 3,739,937 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $293,050,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned about 0.67% of Sun Life Financial at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Sun Life Financial by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,884,084 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,615,788,000 after acquiring an additional 534,772 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia purchased a new position in shares of Sun Life Financial in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $544,052,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Sun Life Financial in the 4th quarter worth approximately $398,037,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Sun Life Financial by 6.7% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,529,609 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $353,181,000 after purchasing an additional 347,041 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley grew its position in 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 purchasing an additional 1,834,772 shares during the last quarter. 52.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on SLF. Barclays restated an “underweight” rating on shares of Sun Life Financial in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Scotiabank reissued a “sector perform” rating on shares of Sun Life Financial in a report on Monday, August 10th. Evercore lowered shares of Sun Life Financial from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. TD Securities restated a “buy” rating on shares of Sun Life Financial in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on Sun Life Financial from $98.00 to $119.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Sun Life Financial has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $96.33.

Sun Life Financial Trading Up 0.1%

SLF opened at $79.09 on Tuesday. Sun Life Financial Inc. has a 12-month low of $57.22 and a 12-month high of $84.38. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $80.26 and a two-hundred day moving average of $72.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.08 billion, a PE ratio of 18.49 and a beta of 0.88.

Sun Life Financial (NYSE:SLF) (TSE:SLF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.07. Sun Life Financial had a net margin of 7.66% and a return on equity of 17.96%. The firm had revenue of $10.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $994.33 million. As a group, analysts predict that Sun Life Financial Inc. will post 5.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sun Life Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 26th will be issued a $0.96 dividend. This represents a $3.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 26th. Sun Life Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 66.12%.

Sun Life Financial Profile

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.