Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) Director Sells C$10,159,120.56 in Stock

Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) Director Kevin Strain sold 104,744 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$96.99, for a total transaction of C$10,159,120.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 42,000 shares in the company, valued at C$4,073,580. The trade was a 71.38% decrease in their position.

Kevin Strain also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, May 11th, Kevin Strain sold 2,935 shares of Sun Life Financial stock. The shares were sold at an average price of C$96.55, for a total transaction of C$283,374.25.

Sun Life Financial Price Performance

SLF stock opened at C$99.03 on Friday. Sun Life Financial Inc. has a 1 year low of C$77.38 and a 1 year high of C$101.15. The company has a market cap of C$54.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.44, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.73. The firm has a 50-day moving average of C$91.57 and a 200 day moving average of C$87.86.

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

Sun Life Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be issued a $0.96 dividend. This represents a $3.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.9%. This is a boost from Sun Life Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 27th. Sun Life Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 67.04%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on SLF. TD increased their price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$102.00 to C$107.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. TD Securities decreased their price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$104.00 to C$102.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce raised their price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$95.00 to C$102.00 in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Barclays raised their price objective on Sun Life Financial from C$84.00 to C$85.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$83.00 to C$95.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of C$101.60.

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.