Manulife Financial (TSE:MFC) Raised to “Outperform” at CIBC

Manulife Financial (TSE:MFC) (NYSE:MFC) was upgraded by analysts at CIBC from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report issued on Thursday,BayStreet.CA reports. The brokerage presently has a C$58.00 target price on the financial services provider’s stock, up from their prior target price of C$50.00. CIBC’s target price suggests a potential upside of 11.54% from the company’s current price.

MFC has been the topic of several other research reports. TD Securities increased their target price on Manulife Financial from C$54.00 to C$57.00 in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. National Bankshares boosted their price objective on Manulife Financial from C$47.00 to C$52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on Manulife Financial from C$49.00 to C$52.00 in a report on Friday, November 14th. Barclays lifted their target price on Manulife Financial from C$47.00 to C$48.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Desjardins set a C$55.00 price target on Manulife Financial and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of C$52.75.

Manulife Financial Stock Up 1.0%

MFC opened at C$52.00 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of C$49.02 and a 200-day moving average price of C$45.16. Manulife Financial has a twelve month low of C$36.93 and a twelve month high of C$52.25. The company has a market capitalization of C$87.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.67, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.01.

Manulife Financial (TSE:MFC) (NYSE:MFC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 12th. The financial services provider reported C$1.16 EPS 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 for the quarter. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Manulife Financial will post 3.6104452 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Manulife Financial

In related news, insider Shamus Edward Weiland sold 88,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$48.95, for a total transaction of C$4,332,075.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 53,495 shares in the company, valued at C$2,618,580.25. The trade was a 62.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Also, insider Rahim Hirji sold 25,048 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of C$48.25, for a total value of C$1,208,566.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider 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. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.