Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) Receives C$85.50 Average PT from Brokerages

Shares of Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eight analysts that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, five have given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is C$86.89.

Several analysts recently commented on SLF shares. TD Securities raised their price target on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$83.00 to C$86.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Scotiabank dropped their target price on Sun Life Financial from C$94.00 to C$90.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays cut their price target on Sun Life Financial from C$87.00 to C$86.00 in a research note on Friday, May 9th. National Bankshares lowered their price target on Sun Life Financial from C$95.00 to C$93.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Sun Life Financial from C$82.00 to C$88.00 in a research report on Monday, May 12th.

Sun Life Financial Price Performance

Shares of TSE SLF opened at C$87.94 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 26.00, a current ratio of 92.19 and a quick ratio of 84,866.00. The stock has a market capitalization of C$50.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.26, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.94. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is C$81.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is C$82.53. Sun Life Financial has a 12 month low of C$64.38 and a 12 month high of C$88.60.

Sun Life Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be given a $0.88 dividend. This represents a $3.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.00%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 28th. This is an increase from Sun Life Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.84. Sun Life Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Senior Officer Jacques Jr. Goulet sold 26,812 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$87.21, for a total value of C$2,338,274.52. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.