Q1 EPS Estimate for Manulife Financial Reduced by Analyst

Manulife Financial Co. (TSE:MFC) (NYSE:MFC) – Equities research analysts at National Bank Financial reduced their Q1 2025 earnings per share estimates for shares of Manulife Financial in a research report issued on Thursday, May 1st. National Bank Financial analyst G. Dechaine now anticipates that the financial services provider will earn $0.98 per share for the quarter, down from their previous estimate of $1.04. The consensus estimate for Manulife Financial’s current full-year earnings is $3.61 per share. National Bank Financial also issued estimates for Manulife Financial’s Q2 2025 earnings at $1.00 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $1.09 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $1.10 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $4.17 EPS.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on MFC. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on shares of Manulife Financial from C$53.00 to C$50.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. CIBC decreased their price objective on shares of Manulife Financial from C$48.00 to C$46.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Royal Bank of Canada set a C$51.00 price target on Manulife Financial and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. TD Securities boosted their price objective on Manulife Financial from C$48.00 to C$49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of Manulife Financial from C$51.00 to C$46.00 in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of C$46.00.

Manulife Financial Stock Down 0.7 %

MFC stock opened at C$43.25 on Monday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of C$42.12 and a 200 day moving average price of C$43.15. The stock has a market cap of C$75.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.46, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.06. Manulife Financial has a fifty-two week low of C$32.87 and a fifty-two week high of C$46.42.

Manulife Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 19th were issued a $0.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.07%. This is an increase from Manulife Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Manulife Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.79%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Senior Officer Steve Finch sold 11,598 shares of Manulife Financial stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$43.43, for a total transaction of C$503,646.63. Also, Director Kenneth Michael Ross sold 3,219 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of C$44.91, for a total transaction of C$144,572.68. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 18,683 shares of company stock valued at $816,102. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

About Manulife Financial

Manulife provides life insurance and wealth management products and services to individuals and group customers in Canada, the United States, and Asia. Manulife is one of Canada’s Big Three Life Insurance companies (the other two are Sun Life and Great West Life). As of Dec. 31, 2021, Manulife reported assets under management or administration of about CAD $1.4 trillion.