Manulife Financial (TSE:MFC) Stock Crosses Above Two Hundred Day Moving Average – Time to Sell?

Manulife Financial Co. (TSE:MFC) (NYSE:MFC)’s share price passed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Tuesday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of C$42.65 and traded as high as C$45.36. Manulife Financial shares last traded at C$44.83, with a volume of 2,172,105 shares changing hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Manulife Financial from C$46.00 to C$47.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. National Bankshares decreased their price objective on shares of Manulife Financial from C$48.00 to C$47.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Manulife Financial from C$51.00 to C$49.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of C$47.75.

Manulife Financial Stock Down 0.4%

The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is C$42.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is C$42.65. The company has a market capitalization of C$75.96 billion, a PE ratio of 14.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.93.

Manulife Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 19th were given a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 20th. Manulife Financial’s payout ratio is presently 54.19%.

Insider Activity at Manulife Financial

In other news, insider Paul Lorentz sold 178,425 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$41.90, for a total transaction of C$7,476,007.50. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 79,930 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately C$3,349,067. The trade was a 69.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Insiders have sold 179,582 shares of company stock worth $7,516,321 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Manulife Financial Company Profile

Manulife provides life insurance and wealth management products and services to individuals and group customers in Canada, the United States, and Asia. Manulife is one of Canada’s Big Three Life Insurance companies (the other two are Sun Life and Great West Life). As of Dec. 31, 2021, Manulife reported assets under management or administration of about CAD $1.4 trillion.