Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) Sets New 52-Week High – What’s Next?

Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as C$19.20 and last traded at C$87.19, with a volume of 86180 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at C$87.47.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on SLF. Cibc Captl Mkts cut Sun Life Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. National Bankshares dropped their target price on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$94.00 to C$93.00 in a report on Thursday, November 6th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$84.00 to C$83.00 in a research note on Friday, January 9th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$99.00 to C$95.00 in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of Sun Life Financial to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of C$92.11.

Sun Life Financial Stock Down 0.1%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 26.00, a current ratio of 92.19 and a quick ratio of 84,866.00. The company has a market capitalization of C$48.38 billion, a PE ratio of 16.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.77. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is C$84.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is C$83.74.

Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The financial services provider reported C$1.86 EPS for the quarter. The firm had revenue of C$9.07 billion for the quarter. Sun Life Financial had a net margin of 7.58% and a return on equity of 15.69%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Sun Life Financial Inc. will post 6.9230769 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sun Life Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st were paid a dividend of $0.92 per share. This represents a $3.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.2%. This is a boost from Sun Life Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 26th. Sun Life Financial’s payout ratio is 65.15%.

Sun Life Financial Company Profile

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.