Allianz SE Acquires New Holdings in Manulife Financial Corp $MFC

Allianz SE bought a new stake in shares of Manulife Financial Corp (NYSE:MFC) (TSE:MFC) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 28,200 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $879,000.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. raised its stake in Manulife Financial by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 6,861,208 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $215,779,000 after acquiring an additional 166,076 shares in the last quarter. OPTIMAS CAPITAL Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Manulife Financial during the third quarter valued at $8,021,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its holdings in shares of Manulife Financial by 44.6% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 642,498 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $20,207,000 after purchasing an additional 198,208 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Manulife Financial during the second quarter valued at about $4,364,000. Finally, Summit Global Investments acquired a new stake in Manulife Financial in the third quarter worth about $2,065,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 52.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce upgraded shares of Manulife Financial from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Manulife Financial from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Scotiabank reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a research report on Friday, November 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $51.00 price target on Manulife Financial in a research note on Monday, December 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and five have given a Buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Manulife Financial currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $51.50.

Manulife Financial Price Performance

NYSE MFC opened at $35.55 on Friday. Manulife Financial Corp has a 12 month low of $25.92 and a 12 month high of $38.72. The company has a market capitalization of $59.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.01 and a beta of 0.83. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $36.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $34.13.

Manulife Financial (NYSE:MFC) (TSE:MFC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The financial services provider reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $11.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.32 billion. Manulife Financial had a net margin of 9.18% and a return on equity of 16.43%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.03 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Manulife Financial Corp will post 2.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Manulife Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 19th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.485 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 25th. This represents a $1.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.5%. This is a boost from Manulife Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. Manulife Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 63.51%.

Manulife Financial Profile

Manulife Financial Corporation is a multinational insurance and financial services company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. Founded in the late 19th century as The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company, Manulife provides a broad range of financial products and services to individual and institutional clients. Its core businesses include life and health insurance, retirement and pension solutions, wealth and asset management, and group benefits.

In wealth and asset management, Manulife operates through Manulife Investment Management and offers mutual funds, segregated funds, institutional asset management, and retirement plan solutions.