317,537 Shares in Sun Life Financial Inc. $SLF Acquired by OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp

OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp bought a new position in Sun Life Financial Inc. (NYSE:SLF) (TSE:SLF) in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 317,537 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $19,830,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SLF. Intact Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Sun Life Financial by 58.3% in the 4th quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,012,083 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $125,598,000 after buying an additional 741,136 shares in the last quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Sun Life Financial by 1,342.4% in the first quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. now owns 50,152 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,141,000 after acquiring an additional 46,675 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Sun Life Financial by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,884,084 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,615,788,000 after acquiring an additional 534,772 shares in the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA grew its stake in Sun Life Financial by 8.4% in the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 329,274 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $20,582,000 after acquiring an additional 25,540 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in Sun Life Financial by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,896,312 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $243,542,000 after acquiring an additional 36,698 shares during the period. 52.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Sun Life Financial in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Evercore downgraded shares of Sun Life Financial from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Sun Life Financial in a report on Friday, May 8th. National Bank Financial raised shares of Sun Life Financial from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Barclays reiterated an “underweight” rating on shares of Sun Life Financial in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $84.67.

Sun Life Financial Stock Up 1.0%

SLF stock opened at $82.19 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.81 billion, a PE ratio of 21.18 and a beta of 0.88. Sun Life Financial Inc. has a twelve month low of $56.22 and a twelve month high of $82.44. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $76.88 and its 200-day moving average is $69.56.

Sun Life Financial (NYSE:SLF) (TSE:SLF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $6.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $925.99 million. Sun Life Financial had a return on equity of 17.80% and a net margin of 7.85%.During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.82 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Sun Life Financial Inc. will post 5.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sun Life Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 27th 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 4.7%. This is a positive change from Sun Life Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. Sun Life Financial’s payout ratio is presently 72.94%.

Sun Life Financial Profile

Sun Life Financial Inc, founded in 1865 and headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, is an international financial services organization that provides a range of insurance, wealth management and asset management solutions. The company serves individual and institutional clients, offering products designed to protect against life and health risks, help clients save for retirement, and manage investments on behalf of customers and third parties.

Core business activities include life and health insurance, group benefits for employers, retirement and pension products, and wealth management services such as mutual funds and segregated fund solutions.