Stephen Peacher Sells 80,048 Shares of Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) Stock

Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) Senior Officer Stephen Peacher sold 80,048 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of C$87.70, for a total transaction of C$7,020,209.60.

Sun Life Financial Stock Performance

Shares of TSE:SLF opened at C$87.32 on Friday. Sun Life Financial Inc. has a 52 week low of C$64.38 and a 52 week high of C$88.85. The firm has a 50 day moving average of C$81.95 and a 200 day moving average of C$82.80. The company has a market capitalization of C$49.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a quick ratio of 84,866.00, a current ratio of 92.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 26.00.

Sun Life Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be paid a $0.88 dividend. This represents a $3.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 28th. This is a positive change from Sun Life Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.84. Sun Life Financial’s payout ratio is 48.87%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on SLF shares. CIBC lowered their price target on Sun Life Financial from C$94.00 to C$89.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. National Bankshares dropped their price target on Sun Life Financial from C$95.00 to C$93.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Cormark raised shares of Sun Life Financial from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Sun Life Financial from C$82.00 to C$88.00 in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$87.00 to C$86.00 in a report on Friday, May 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of C$86.89.

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.