Short Interest in Manulife Financial Corp (NYSE:MFC) Drops By 47.8%

Manulife Financial Corp (NYSE:MFC) (TSE:MFC) saw a significant decrease in short interest in the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totaling 12,989,766 shares, a decrease of 47.8% from the May 31st total of 24,904,565 shares. Approximately 0.8% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,017,294 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 6.4 days.

Manulife Financial Stock Performance

MFC stock opened at $40.66 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $39.16 and a 200-day moving average of $37.18. Manulife Financial has a fifty-two week low of $29.70 and a fifty-two week high of $41.43. The company has a market capitalization of $67.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.13 and a beta of 0.84.

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 (EPS) 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 the consensus estimate 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 prior year, the firm posted $0.99 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Manulife Financial will post 3.2 EPS for the current year.

Manulife Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 29th were given a $0.485 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 29th. This represents a $1.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.8%. Manulife Financial’s payout ratio is 56.75%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on MFC. Scotiabank reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. TD Securities reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Manulife Financial from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and five have given a Buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Manulife Financial has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $51.50.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Manulife Financial by 2.1% during 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 boosted its holdings in shares of Manulife Financial by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 38,181,297 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,388,259,000 after acquiring an additional 542,834 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its position in shares of Manulife Financial by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 28,550,943 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,041,431,000 after purchasing an additional 728,643 shares in the last quarter. Canerector Inc. grew its position in shares of Manulife Financial by 4,445.8% in the third quarter. Canerector Inc. now owns 28,184,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $877,932,000 after purchasing an additional 27,564,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Manulife Financial during the 4th quarter valued at $777,229,000. 52.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.