Manulife Financial Co. (TSE:MFC) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Manulife Financial Co. (TSE:MFC) (NYSE:MFC) have been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the eight analysts that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, five have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is C$50.88.

Several analysts recently issued reports on MFC shares. Desjardins increased their target price on Manulife Financial from C$48.00 to C$52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. TD Securities upped their price target on Manulife Financial from C$54.00 to C$57.00 in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. CIBC increased their price objective on shares of Manulife Financial from C$49.00 to C$50.00 in a report on Friday, November 14th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Manulife Financial from C$47.00 to C$48.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on shares of Manulife Financial from C$49.00 to C$52.00 in a research report on Friday, November 14th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Manulife Financial news, insider Rahim Hirji sold 25,048 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of C$48.25, for a total transaction of C$1,208,566.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 31,315 shares in the company, valued at C$1,510,948.75. This represents a 44.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Manulife Financial Price Performance

Shares of MFC stock opened at C$48.83 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of C$82.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.65, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.94. Manulife Financial has a one year low of C$36.93 and a one year high of C$49.85. The company’s fifty day moving average price is C$46.43 and its 200-day moving average price is C$44.01.

Manulife Financial (TSE:MFC) (NYSE:MFC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 12th. The financial services provider reported C$1.16 earnings per share for the quarter. Manulife Financial had a net margin of 12.52% and a return on equity of 11.75%. The company had revenue of C$26.23 billion during the quarter. Equities research analysts expect that Manulife Financial will post 3.6104452 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.