1,357,048 Manulife Financial Corp $MFC Shares Sold by Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd.

Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. cut its holdings in Manulife Financial Corp (NYSE:MFC) (TSE:MFC) by 23.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,550,886 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,357,048 shares during the quarter. Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. owned approximately 0.28% of Manulife Financial worth $194,376,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake in Manulife Financial during the 2nd quarter valued at $145,177,000. Canerector Inc. increased its position in Manulife Financial by 27.0% during the first quarter. Canerector Inc. now owns 800,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 170,000 shares in the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund raised its holdings in shares of Manulife Financial by 183.7% in the first 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 last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company acquired a new position in shares of Manulife Financial in the second quarter worth $92,762,000. Finally, Swiss National Bank raised its holdings in shares of Manulife Financial by 25.7% in the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 5,645,600 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $194,191,000 after acquiring an additional 1,154,200 shares during the last quarter. 52.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Manulife Financial Stock Performance

Shares of MFC opened at $44.24 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $43.78 and a two-hundred day moving average of $40.19. The company has a market capitalization of $73.19 billion, a PE ratio of 14.15 and a beta of 0.86. Manulife Financial Corp has a fifty-two week low of $32.58 and a fifty-two week high of $46.19.

Manulife Financial (NYSE:MFC) (TSE:MFC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 4th. The financial services provider reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by $0.06. Manulife Financial had a return on equity of 16.90% and a net margin of 10.28%. The company had revenue of $8.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.67 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.16 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Manulife Financial Corp will post 3.00 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Manulife Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 21st. Investors of record on Friday, November 20th will be paid a C$0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.4%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 20th. Manulife Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.55%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MFC has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Scotiabank cut Manulife Financial from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 27th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Manulife Financial from a “buy (a)” rating to a “buy (a+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on shares of Manulife Financial from $55.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, TD Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Manulife Financial presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $58.75.

Manulife Financial Company Profile