Prudential PLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Sun Life Financial Inc. $SLF

Prudential PLC reduced its holdings in Sun Life Financial Inc. (NYSE:SLF) (TSE:SLF) by 83.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,420 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 27,168 shares during the period. Prudential PLC’s holdings in Sun Life Financial were worth $338,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in SLF. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Sun Life Financial by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,884,084 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,615,788,000 after acquiring an additional 534,772 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Sun Life Financial during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $398,037,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Sun Life Financial by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,529,609 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $353,181,000 after acquiring an additional 347,041 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its position in Sun Life Financial by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,896,312 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $243,542,000 after acquiring an additional 36,698 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Scotia Capital Inc. increased its position in shares of Sun Life Financial by 6.3% in the third quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. now owns 3,303,733 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $197,709,000 after buying an additional 196,675 shares in the last quarter. 52.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SLF has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Sun Life Financial in a research report on Friday, May 8th. TD Securities restated a “buy” rating on shares of Sun Life Financial in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Scotiabank restated a “sector perform” rating on shares of Sun Life Financial in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating on shares of Sun Life Financial in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Evercore restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Sun Life Financial in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $86.50.

Sun Life Financial Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of Sun Life Financial stock opened at $73.57 on Tuesday. Sun Life Financial Inc. has a 52 week low of $56.22 and a 52 week high of $74.44. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $69.66 and its 200-day simple moving average is $65.18. The firm has a market cap of $40.76 billion, a PE ratio of 18.96 and a beta of 0.90.

Sun Life Financial (NYSE:SLF) (TSE:SLF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.03. Sun Life Financial had a return on equity of 17.80% and a net margin of 7.85%.The business had revenue of $6.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $925.99 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.82 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Sun Life Financial Inc. will post 5.72 earnings per share for the current year.

Sun Life Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 27th will be paid a $0.96 dividend. This is a boost from Sun Life Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 27th. This represents a $3.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.2%. Sun Life Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 72.94%.

About Sun Life Financial

Sun Life Financial Inc, founded in 1865 and headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, is an international financial services organization that provides a range of insurance, wealth management and asset management solutions. The company serves individual and institutional clients, offering products designed to protect against life and health risks, help clients save for retirement, and manage investments on behalf of customers and third parties.

Core business activities include life and health insurance, group benefits for employers, retirement and pension products, and wealth management services such as mutual funds and segregated fund solutions.