Sun Life Financial Inc. $SLF Shares Bought by Legal & General Group Plc

Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in Sun Life Financial Inc. (NYSE:SLF) (TSE:SLF) by 10.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,859,614 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 371,139 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned 0.69% of Sun Life Financial worth $231,816,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Sun Life Financial by 184.1% during the 3rd quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 588 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 381 shares during the period. Tobam purchased a new position in Sun Life Financial in the second quarter worth approximately $44,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Sun Life Financial by 38.6% during the third quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 801 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 223 shares during the last quarter. MAI Capital Management increased its stake in Sun Life Financial by 121.8% during the second quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 896 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $60,000 after acquiring an additional 492 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AlphaCore Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Sun Life Financial in the second quarter valued at $61,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 52.26% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Barclays reiterated an “underweight” rating on shares of Sun Life Financial in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Sun Life Financial in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Sun Life Financial in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating on shares of Sun Life Financial in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, TD Securities reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Sun Life Financial in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $86.50.

Sun Life Financial Stock Down 1.1%

SLF stock opened at $62.88 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $64.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $61.49. The stock has a market cap of $34.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.29 and a beta of 0.87. Sun Life Financial Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $52.44 and a fifty-two week high of $69.67.

Sun Life Financial (NYSE:SLF) (TSE:SLF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The financial services provider reported $1.41 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.06. Sun Life Financial had a net margin of 8.48% and a return on equity of 17.76%. The company had revenue of $973.53 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $973.53 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.68 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Sun Life Financial Inc. will post 5.19 EPS for the current year.

Sun Life Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 25th will be given a $0.92 dividend. This represents a $3.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 25th. Sun Life Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 61.36%.

Sun Life Financial Company 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.