Sun Life Financial Inc. (NYSE:SLF) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of Sun Life Financial Inc. (NYSE:SLF) (TSE:SLF) have been given an average rating of “Hold” by the eleven research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have assigned a hold recommendation, four have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $86.50.

SLF has been the topic of a number of research reports. National Bank Financial reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating on shares of Sun Life Financial in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Sun Life Financial in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Sun Life Financial in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Barclays reiterated an “underweight” rating on shares of Sun Life Financial in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Sun Life Financial in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Sun Life Financial by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,884,084 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,615,788,000 after buying an additional 534,772 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Sun Life Financial during the 4th quarter valued at $398,037,000. Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its holdings in Sun Life Financial by 6.5% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 6,157,205 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $409,576,000 after acquiring an additional 377,204 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Sun Life Financial by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,529,609 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $353,181,000 after acquiring an additional 347,041 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley grew its stake in shares of Sun Life Financial by 86.6% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,952,646 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $246,645,000 after acquiring an additional 1,834,772 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 52.26% of the company’s stock.

Sun Life Financial Price Performance

SLF stock opened at $65.56 on Monday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $63.98 and its 200-day moving average is $61.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $36.31 billion, a PE ratio of 14.90 and a beta of 0.87. Sun Life Financial has a 1 year low of $52.44 and a 1 year high of $69.67.

Sun Life Financial (NYSE:SLF) (TSE:SLF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The financial services provider reported $1.41 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $973.53 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $973.53 million. Sun Life Financial had a return on equity of 17.76% and a net margin of 8.48%.During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.68 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Sun Life Financial will post 5.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sun Life Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 25th will be issued a dividend of $0.92 per share. This represents a $3.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 25th. Sun Life Financial’s payout ratio is currently 60.91%.

About Sun Life Financial

Sun Life Financial Inc, founded in 1865 and headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, is an international financial services organization that provides a range of insurance, wealth management and asset management solutions. The company serves individual and institutional clients, offering products designed to protect against life and health risks, help clients save for retirement, and manage investments on behalf of customers and third parties.

Core business activities include life and health insurance, group benefits for employers, retirement and pension products, and wealth management services such as mutual funds and segregated fund solutions.