Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) Reaches New 52-Week High After Dividend Announcement

Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday after the company announced a dividend. The stock traded as high as C$19.20 and last traded at C$89.06, with a volume of 503718 shares. The stock had previously closed at C$88.96.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.92 per share. This represents a $3.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 25th. Sun Life Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 57.24%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on SLF shares. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$93.00 to C$96.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$95.00 to C$100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Desjardins upped their price target on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$96.00 to C$101.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Sun Life Financial from C$97.00 to C$103.00 in a report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, National Bank Financial reduced their price objective on Sun Life Financial from C$94.00 to C$93.00 in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Sun Life Financial presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of C$96.44.

Sun Life Financial Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 26.00, a quick ratio of 84,866.00 and a current ratio of 92.19. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is C$87.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is C$84.52. The stock has a market cap of C$49.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.73.

Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The financial services provider reported C$1.96 earnings per share for the quarter. Sun Life Financial had a return on equity of 15.69% and a net margin of 7.58%. Research analysts predict that Sun Life Financial Inc. will post 6.9230769 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Sun Life Financial

Sun Life Financial is one of Canada’s Big Three life insurance companies along with Great-West Lifeco and Manulife. Sun Life provides insurance, retirement, and wealth-management services to individual and corporate customers in Canada, the United States, and Asia. It also owns MFS Investment Management, a Boston-based asset-management firm. Sun Life generates about a third of its profit from asset-management operations.