Manulife Financial Co. (TSE:MFC) Receives C$48.00 Average Target Price from Analysts

Shares of Manulife Financial Co. (TSE:MFC) (NYSE:MFC) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight brokerages that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is C$48.00.

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on Manulife Financial from C$51.00 to C$46.00 in a report on Monday, April 21st. Barclays decreased their target price on Manulife Financial from C$49.00 to C$45.00 in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on shares of Manulife Financial from C$53.00 to C$50.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. National Bankshares lowered their target price on shares of Manulife Financial from C$50.00 to C$49.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, CIBC reduced their price target on shares of Manulife Financial from C$48.00 to C$46.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st.

Manulife Financial Price Performance

Shares of MFC stock opened at C$42.38 on Friday. Manulife Financial has a one year low of C$32.87 and a one year high of C$46.42. The company’s fifty day moving average price is C$42.61 and its 200-day moving average price is C$43.17. The company has a market capitalization of C$74.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.19, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.06.

Manulife Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 19th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 19th will be given a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 21st. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.15%. Manulife Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.79%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Anthony Alex Silva purchased 2,407 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of C$44.37 per share, with a total value of C$106,788.96. Also, Director Ka Ming (Kenneth) Dai sold 1,073 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of C$42.96, for a total value of C$46,091.79. Insiders sold 62,070 shares of company stock valued at $2,744,604 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Manulife Financial Company Profile

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.