Manulife Financial Corp (MFC) – What Are Analysts Saying About This Stock?

Manulife Financial Corp (NYSE:MFC) (TSE:MFC) has received a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the eight analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $58.75.

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Scotiabank reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Zacks Research raised Manulife Financial from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Weiss Ratings raised Manulife Financial from a “buy (a)” rating to a “buy (a+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. TD Securities reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a research report on Friday, August 7th.

Institutional Trading of Manulife Financial

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mather Group LLC. boosted its position in Manulife Financial by 18.9% during the third quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 1,627 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $69,000 after buying an additional 259 shares during the period. Triumph Capital Management lifted its stake in shares of Manulife Financial by 41.0% in the 3rd quarter. Triumph Capital Management now owns 2,471 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $105,000 after acquiring an additional 718 shares during the last quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Manulife Financial by 40.6% during the 3rd quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 7,096 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $302,000 after acquiring an additional 2,050 shares during the period. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. grew its position in Manulife Financial by 11.1% during the 3rd quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 9,298 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $396,000 after acquiring an additional 926 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GK Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Manulife Financial during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $92,000. Institutional investors own 52.56% of the company’s stock.

Manulife Financial Price Performance

MFC opened at $43.13 on Friday. Manulife Financial has a fifty-two week low of $31.54 and a fifty-two week high of $45.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $71.57 billion, a PE ratio of 16.09 and a beta of 0.84. The company’s 50-day moving average is $43.43 and its 200 day moving average is $41.00.

Manulife Financial (NYSE:MFC) (TSE:MFC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The financial services provider reported $0.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.22 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.28 billion. Manulife Financial had a return on equity of 16.68% and a net margin of 9.99%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.95 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Manulife Financial will post 2.97 EPS for the current year.

Manulife Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 21st were issued a dividend of C$0.48 per share. This represents a $1.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 21st. Manulife Financial’s payout ratio is currently 51.49%.

About Manulife Financial

Manulife Financial Corporation is a Canadian financial services company that provides insurance, wealth and asset management, retirement solutions and employee benefits. Its offerings include life and health insurance, annuities, group benefits, mutual funds, pension products and investment management services for individuals, businesses and institutional clients.

Founded in 1887 as The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company, Manulife has grown into an international organization serving customers primarily in Canada, the United States and Asia.