Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) Sets New 12-Month High – Still a Buy?

Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as C$112.73 and last traded at C$112.31, with a volume of 311397 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at C$111.35.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SLF has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Sun Life Financial from C$99.00 to C$105.00 in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce lifted their price target on Sun Life Financial from C$95.00 to C$102.00 in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$103.00 to C$115.00 in a research report on Friday, May 1st. TD raised their price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$102.00 to C$107.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, National Bank Financial decreased their target price on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$109.00 to C$108.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of C$101.60.

Sun Life Financial Trading Up 0.0%

The firm has a market capitalization of C$62.64 billion, a PE ratio of 21.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.84. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of C$102.89 and a 200 day simple moving average of C$93.28. The company has a current ratio of 6.03, a quick ratio of 84,866.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 33.48.

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

Sun Life Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 30th were given a dividend of $0.96 per share. This represents a $3.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.4%. This is a positive change from Sun Life Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 27th. Sun Life Financial’s payout ratio is currently 67.04%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Sun Life Financial news, insider Jacques Jr. Goulet sold 35,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$97.80, for a total transaction of C$3,423,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 1,054 shares in the company, valued at approximately C$103,081.20. The trade was a 97.08% decrease in their position. Also, insider Manjit Singh sold 188,312 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$103.20, for a total value of C$19,433,798.40. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 547 shares in the company, valued at C$56,450.40. The trade was a 99.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Insiders have sold a total of 380,998 shares of company stock valued at $38,271,605 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.