Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) Reaches New 1-Year High – What’s Next?

Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF)’s share price hit a new 52-week high on Thursday . The stock traded as high as C$20.40 and last traded at C$116.62, with a volume of 329101 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at C$115.72.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on SLF shares. Evercore cut Sun Life Financial from an “outperform” rating to a “hold” rating and set a C$111.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, July 13th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce boosted their price objective on Sun Life Financial from C$102.00 to C$116.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Barclays upped their target price on Sun Life Financial from C$84.00 to C$85.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. TD lifted their price target on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$107.00 to C$121.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, Desjardins set a C$101.00 price target on shares of Sun Life Financial and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of C$109.36.

Sun Life Financial Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of C$64.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.79. The firm’s 50-day moving average is C$108.86 and its two-hundred day moving average is C$96.95. The company has a current ratio of 6.03, a quick ratio of 84,866.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 32.51.

Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 12.89% and a net margin of 9.12%.The company had revenue of C$8.73 billion for the quarter. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Sun Life Financial Inc. will post 6.9230769 earnings per share for the current year.

Sun Life Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th were paid a $0.96 dividend. This is a boost from Sun Life Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. This represents a $3.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 27th. Sun Life Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 67.04%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Linda Dougherty sold 3,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$101.40, for a total transaction of C$354,900.00. 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 completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 547 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately C$56,450.40. This represents a 99.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Insiders sold 380,998 shares of company stock valued at $38,271,605 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Sun Life Financial Company Profile

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.