Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) have been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the eleven ratings firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is C$101.60.

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$99.00 to C$105.00 in a report on Friday, May 8th. Desjardins set a C$101.00 target price on shares of Sun Life Financial and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 17th. National Bank Financial lowered their target price on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$109.00 to C$108.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 7th. TD boosted their target price on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$102.00 to C$107.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$84.00 to C$85.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 8th.

Sun Life Financial Price Performance

SLF stock opened at C$107.18 on Tuesday. Sun Life Financial has a one year low of C$77.38 and a one year high of C$107.70. The company’s fifty day moving average price is C$97.80 and its 200-day moving average price is C$90.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 33.48, a quick ratio of 84,866.00 and a current ratio of 6.03. The company has a market capitalization of C$59.41 billion, a PE ratio of 19.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.84.

Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported C$1.89 EPS for the quarter. Sun Life Financial had a net margin of 9.12% and a return on equity of 12.98%. The firm had revenue of C$8.73 billion for the quarter. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Sun Life Financial will post 6.9230769 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sun Life Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.96 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 27th. This is a positive change from Sun Life Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. This represents a $3.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.6%. Sun Life Financial’s payout ratio is currently 67.04%.

Insider Activity at Sun Life Financial

In related news, insider Melissa Jane Kennedy sold 7,366 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the insider owned 13,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at C$1,412,334.84. This represents a 34.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Also, insider Linda Dougherty sold 3,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$101.40, for a total transaction of C$354,900.00. Insiders have sold 380,998 shares of company stock valued at $38,271,605 over the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by 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.