Ieq Capital LLC Buys New Position in Sun Life Financial Inc. $SLF

Ieq Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Sun Life Financial Inc. (NYSE:SLF) (TSE:SLF) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 24,466 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,919,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Allworth Financial LP bought a new stake in shares of Sun Life Financial during the 2nd quarter valued at $85,000. Vise Technologies Inc. purchased a new position in Sun Life Financial during the second quarter valued at $1,353,000. Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. bought a new stake in Sun Life Financial during the second quarter valued at about $329,000. West Family Investments Inc. purchased a new stake in Sun Life Financial in the second quarter worth about $513,000. Finally, Tacita Capital Inc purchased a new stake in Sun Life Financial in the second quarter worth about $587,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 52.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Sun Life Financial in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. TD Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Sun Life Financial in a report on Friday, August 7th. Barclays reiterated an “underweight” rating on shares of Sun Life Financial in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Sun Life Financial in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Sun Life Financial from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $96.33.

Sun Life Financial Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SLF opened at $79.94 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $44.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.69 and a beta of 0.88. Sun Life Financial Inc. has a 52-week low of $57.22 and a 52-week high of $84.38. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $80.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $72.44.

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

Sun Life Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 29th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 26th will be paid a dividend of $0.96 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 26th. This represents a $3.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.8%. Sun Life Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 66.12%.

Sun Life Financial Company 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.