Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. Makes New $571,000 Investment in Manulife Financial Corp $MFC

Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Manulife Financial Corp (NYSE:MFC) (TSE:MFC) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 15,750 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $571,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MFC. UBS Group AG lifted its stake in shares of Manulife Financial by 10.0% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 4,016,230 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $145,709,000 after buying an additional 363,963 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in shares of Manulife Financial by 5.7% during the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 11,541,321 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $359,662,000 after buying an additional 621,093 shares in the last quarter. Sienna Gestion lifted its stake in shares of Manulife Financial by 233.6% during the 3rd quarter. Sienna Gestion now owns 556,239 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $15,804,000 after buying an additional 389,500 shares in the last quarter. Allianz SE purchased a new stake in shares of Manulife Financial during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $879,000. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of Manulife Financial by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 37,638,463 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,172,922,000 after buying an additional 2,079,330 shares in the last quarter. 52.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Manulife Financial Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MFC opened at $40.75 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $38.43 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $36.81. Manulife Financial Corp has a one year low of $29.70 and a one year high of $40.86. The company has a market cap of $68.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.17 and a beta of 0.84.

Manulife Financial (NYSE:MFC) (TSE:MFC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 13th. The financial services provider reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 period in the previous year, the business earned $0.99 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Manulife Financial Corp will post 3.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Manulife Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 29th will be given a dividend of $0.485 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 29th. This represents a $1.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.8%. Manulife Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 56.75%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. TD Securities restated a “buy” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Manulife Financial from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Finally, Scotiabank restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and five have issued a Buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $51.50.

Manulife Financial Profile

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.