Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) Insider Helena Janina Pagano Sells 17,283 Shares

Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) insider Helena Janina Pagano sold 17,283 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$101.32, for a total transaction of C$1,751,113.56. Following the sale, the insider owned 228 shares of the company’s stock, valued at C$23,100.96. The trade was a 98.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock.

Sun Life Financial Stock Down 1.2%

Sun Life Financial stock traded down C$1.25 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting C$99.18. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,771,779 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,011,661. The stock has a market capitalization of C$54.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.73. Sun Life Financial Inc. has a twelve month low of C$77.38 and a twelve month high of C$101.94. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is C$93.71 and its two-hundred day moving average price is C$88.68.

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

Sun Life Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be given a $0.96 dividend. This represents a $3.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.9%. This is a positive change 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 (DPR) is presently 67.04%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Desjardins set a C$101.00 target price on shares of Sun Life Financial and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce raised their target price on Sun Life Financial from C$95.00 to C$102.00 in a research report on Friday, May 8th. TD raised their target price on Sun Life Financial from C$102.00 to C$107.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on 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. Finally, Scotiabank raised their target price on Sun Life Financial from C$93.00 to C$96.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of C$101.60.

About Sun Life Financial

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.