Bleakley Financial Group LLC Buys New Holdings in Manulife Financial Corp $MFC

Bleakley Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Manulife Financial Corp (NYSE:MFC) (TSE:MFC) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 25,585 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $928,000.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MFC. Hantz Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in Manulife Financial in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC lifted its stake in Manulife Financial by 269.2% in the 4th quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 960 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 700 shares during the last quarter. American Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Manulife Financial in the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. lifted its stake in Manulife Financial by 208.8% in the 4th quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. now owns 1,022 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 691 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clearstead Trust LLC lifted its position in Manulife Financial by 144.4% during the third quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 1,256 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 742 shares during the last quarter. 52.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on MFC shares. TD Securities restated a “buy” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Manulife Financial from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Finally, Scotiabank restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and six have given a Buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Manulife Financial has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $51.50.

Manulife Financial Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of MFC opened at $38.22 on Friday. Manulife Financial Corp has a 12 month low of $29.70 and a 12 month high of $40.40. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $37.38 and its 200-day moving average is $36.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $63.78 billion, a PE ratio of 15.16 and a beta of 0.87.

Manulife Financial (NYSE:MFC) (TSE:MFC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 13th. The financial services provider reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.79 by ($0.02). Manulife Financial had a return on equity of 16.58% and a net margin of 10.19%.The business had revenue of $8.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.32 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.99 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Manulife Financial Corp will post 3.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Manulife Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 19th. Investors of record on Friday, May 29th will be paid a $0.485 dividend. This represents a $1.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 29th. Manulife Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 56.35%.

About Manulife Financial

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.