First Trust Advisors LP Has $40.50 Million Stock Holdings in Manulife Financial Corp $MFC

First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Manulife Financial Corp (NYSE:MFC) (TSE:MFC) by 1.3% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,175,854 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 14,659 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Manulife Financial were worth $40,496,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MFC. Basepoint Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Manulife Financial during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in Manulife Financial in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Sfam LLC bought a new stake in Manulife Financial in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA acquired a new position in Manulife Financial in the 1st quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Heritage Wealth Advisors acquired a new position in Manulife Financial in the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 52.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Manulife Financial Trading Up 0.8%

Manulife Financial stock opened at $44.02 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $73.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.47 and a beta of 0.84. Manulife Financial Corp has a 1-year low of $29.70 and a 1-year high of $44.13. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $40.44 and a 200 day simple moving average of $38.00.

Manulife Financial (NYSE:MFC) (TSE:MFC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 13th. The financial services provider reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.79 by ($0.02). Manulife Financial had a net margin of 10.19% and a return on equity of 16.58%. The business had revenue of $8.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.32 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.99 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Manulife Financial Corp will post 3.03 EPS for the current year.

Manulife Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 19th. Investors of record on Friday, May 29th were given a $0.485 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 29th. This represents a $1.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.4%. Manulife Financial’s payout ratio is currently 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.