Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) Given New C$111.00 Price Target at Scotiabank

Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) had its target price lifted by Scotiabank from C$98.00 to C$111.00 in a research note published on Wednesday morning,BayStreet.CA reports. Scotiabank currently has a sector perform rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on SLF. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce boosted their target price on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$102.00 to C$116.00 in a research note on Wednesday. TD boosted their price objective on Sun Life Financial from C$102.00 to C$107.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Desjardins set a C$101.00 target price on Sun Life Financial and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 17th. Evercore downgraded Sun Life Financial from an “outperform” rating to a “hold” rating and set a C$111.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday. Finally, National Bank Financial cut their price target on Sun Life Financial from C$109.00 to C$108.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of C$105.09.

Sun Life Financial Price Performance

Shares of TSE SLF opened at C$114.20 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of C$63.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.79. The business’s 50 day moving average is C$105.30 and its 200-day moving average is C$94.91. The company has a current ratio of 6.03, a quick ratio of 84,866.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 32.51. Sun Life Financial has a 1-year low of C$77.38 and a 1-year high of C$114.53.

Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported C$1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The firm had revenue of C$8.73 billion during the quarter. Sun Life Financial had a net margin of 9.12% and a return on equity of 12.89%. Equities research analysts predict that Sun Life Financial will post 6.9230769 earnings per share for the current year.

Sun Life Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th were paid a $0.96 dividend. This represents a $3.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.4%. This is an increase from Sun Life Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 27th. Sun Life Financial’s payout ratio is presently 67.04%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Melissa Jane Kennedy sold 7,366 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$101.49, for a total transaction of C$747,575.34. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 13,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at C$1,412,334.84. The trade was a 34.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Also, insider Linda Dougherty sold 3,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$101.40, for a total value of C$354,900.00. Insiders sold a total of 380,998 shares of company stock worth $38,271,605 over the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.