Janus Henderson Group PLC Has $6.89 Million Stock Holdings in Manulife Financial Corp $MFC

Janus Henderson Group PLC lowered its position in shares of Manulife Financial Corp (NYSE:MFC) (TSE:MFC) by 95.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 201,041 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,844,447 shares during the quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC’s holdings in Manulife Financial were worth $6,895,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MFC. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Manulife Financial by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 78,317,970 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,843,882,000 after purchasing an additional 1,606,480 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its holdings in Manulife Financial by 1.4% during 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 purchasing an additional 542,834 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its holdings in Manulife Financial by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 28,550,943 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,041,431,000 after purchasing an additional 728,643 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Manulife Financial in the fourth quarter valued at $777,229,000. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its position in Manulife Financial by 14.6% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 16,885,459 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $616,479,000 after purchasing an additional 2,145,099 shares in the last quarter. 52.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MFC has been the topic of several recent research reports. Zacks Research lowered shares of Manulife Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Scotiabank restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Weiss Ratings cut Manulife Financial from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, TD Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Manulife Financial has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $51.50.

Manulife Financial Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of MFC opened at $44.52 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $73.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.67 and a beta of 0.84. Manulife Financial Corp has a 1-year low of $29.70 and a 1-year high of $44.89. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $41.27 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.37.

Manulife Financial (NYSE:MFC) (TSE:MFC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The financial services provider reported $0.79 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.01. Manulife Financial had a net margin of 10.19% and a return on equity of 16.58%. The firm had revenue of $2.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.28 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.95 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Manulife Financial Corp will post 3.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Manulife Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 19th. Investors of record on Friday, May 29th were paid a $0.485 dividend. This represents a $1.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.4%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 29th. Manulife Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 56.75%.

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.