Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) Hits New 52-Week High Following Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Friday after National Bank Financial raised their price target on the stock from C$108.00 to C$125.00. National Bank Financial currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Sun Life Financial traded as high as C$116.12 and last traded at C$115.86, with a volume of 284491 shares. The stock had previously closed at C$114.76.

Several other analysts have also commented on the company. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Sun Life Financial from C$98.00 to C$111.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Desjardins set a C$101.00 price objective on Sun Life Financial and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Sun Life Financial from C$115.00 to C$131.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. TD boosted their target price on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$107.00 to C$121.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, 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, July 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of C$109.36.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Manjit Singh sold 188,312 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$103.20, for a total transaction of C$19,433,798.40. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 547 shares in the company, valued at C$56,450.40. This represents a 99.71% decrease in their position. Also, insider Melissa Jane Kennedy sold 7,366 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$101.49, for a total value of C$747,575.34. Following the sale, the insider directly 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. Insiders have sold a total of 380,998 shares of company stock valued at $38,271,605 in the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Sun Life Financial Stock Up 1.1%

The firm has a fifty day moving average price of C$107.79 and a 200 day moving average price of C$96.26. The company has a quick ratio of 84,866.00, a current ratio of 6.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 32.51. The company has a market cap of C$64.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.60, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.79.

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

Sun Life Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th were issued a dividend of $0.96 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 27th. This represents a $3.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.3%. This is an increase from Sun Life Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. Sun Life Financial’s payout ratio is currently 67.04%.

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.