Manulife Financial Corp $MFC Shares Purchased by Geode Capital Management LLC

Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Manulife Financial Corp (NYSE:MFC) (TSE:MFC) by 6.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 16,808,765 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,020,490 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC owned 1.00% of Manulife Financial worth $623,642,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Manulife Financial by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 78,317,970 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,843,882,000 after acquiring an additional 1,606,480 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc grew its stake in Manulife Financial by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 37,638,463 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,172,922,000 after acquiring an additional 2,079,330 shares during the period. Canerector Inc. grew its stake in Manulife Financial by 4,445.8% in the 3rd quarter. Canerector Inc. now owns 28,184,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $877,932,000 after acquiring an additional 27,564,000 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its stake in Manulife Financial by 25.6% in the 3rd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 27,822,300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $866,649,000 after acquiring an additional 5,671,639 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in Manulife Financial by 5.7% in the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 11,541,321 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $359,662,000 after acquiring an additional 621,093 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 52.56% of the company’s stock.

Manulife Financial Stock Performance

Shares of MFC stock opened at $38.22 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $37.38 and its two-hundred day moving average is $36.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $63.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.16 and a beta of 0.87. Manulife Financial Corp has a fifty-two week low of $29.70 and a fifty-two week high of $40.40.

Manulife Financial (NYSE:MFC) (TSE:MFC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 13th. The financial services provider reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $8.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.32 billion. Manulife Financial had a net margin of 10.19% and a return on equity of 16.58%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.99 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Manulife Financial Corp will post 3.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Manulife Financial Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings upgraded Manulife Financial from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a report on Thursday. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a report on Friday, February 13th. Scotiabank restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, TD Securities restated a “buy” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and five have assigned a Buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $51.50.

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.