Wellington Management Group LLP Buys Shares of 876,930 Manulife Financial Corp $MFC

Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new stake in Manulife Financial Corp (NYSE:MFC) (TSE:MFC) in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 876,930 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $35,553,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Basepoint Wealth LLC bought a new position in Manulife Financial in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Addison Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Manulife Financial in the second quarter worth $25,000. First Bancorp Inc ME bought a new position in shares of Manulife Financial in the second quarter worth $26,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Manulife Financial in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Canerector Inc. raised its position in shares of Manulife Financial by 27.0% in the first quarter. Canerector Inc. now owns 800,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 170,000 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 52.56% of the company’s stock.

Manulife Financial Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of MFC stock opened at $44.32 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $43.04 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $39.29. Manulife Financial Corp has a 12-month low of $30.49 and a 12-month high of $45.33. The firm has a market cap of $73.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.54 and a beta of 0.83.

Manulife Financial (NYSE:MFC) (TSE:MFC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The financial services provider reported $0.79 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $2.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.28 billion. Manulife Financial had a return on equity of 16.68% and a net margin of 9.99%.The company’s revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.95 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Manulife Financial Corp will post 3.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Manulife Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 21st will be issued a $0.485 dividend. This represents a $1.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.4%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 21st. Manulife Financial’s payout ratio is presently 51.49%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on MFC. Zacks Research upgraded Manulife Financial from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on Manulife Financial from $55.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a research report on Friday, August 7th. TD Securities reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Scotiabank reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $59.00.

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.