Short Interest in Sun Life Financial Inc. (NYSE:SLF) Declines By 59.1%

Sun Life Financial Inc. (NYSE:SLF) (TSE:SLF) saw a large drop in short interest in June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totaling 2,313,664 shares, a drop of 59.1% from the May 31st total of 5,662,030 shares. Currently, 0.4% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 559,386 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.1 days.

Institutional Trading of Sun Life Financial

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Rathbones Group PLC lifted its stake in Sun Life Financial by 1.8% during the first quarter. Rathbones Group PLC now owns 12,950 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $809,000 after purchasing an additional 235 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Sun Life Financial by 15.1% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 4,273 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $267,000 after acquiring an additional 559 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in Sun Life Financial by 33.4% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 83,904 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,243,000 after acquiring an additional 20,993 shares during the period. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas boosted its holdings in Sun Life Financial by 4.3% during the 1st quarter. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas now owns 87,316 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,462,000 after acquiring an additional 3,600 shares during the period. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Sun Life Financial by 44.6% in the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,567 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $223,000 after acquiring an additional 1,101 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 52.26% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SLF has been the subject of several research reports. TD Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Sun Life Financial in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Sun Life Financial in a report on Friday, May 8th. Argus set a $81.00 price objective on Sun Life Financial in a research report on Wednesday, June 10th. Scotiabank reissued a “sector perform” rating on shares of Sun Life Financial in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, National Bank Financial raised Sun Life Financial from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Sun Life Financial has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $84.67.

Sun Life Financial Stock Performance

SLF stock opened at $78.45 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $43.48 billion, a PE ratio of 20.19 and a beta of 0.89. Sun Life Financial has a one year low of $56.22 and a one year high of $78.98. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $73.55 and its 200-day moving average price is $67.27.

Sun Life Financial (NYSE:SLF) (TSE:SLF) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $6.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $925.99 million. Sun Life Financial had a return on equity of 17.80% and a net margin of 7.85%.During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.82 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Sun Life Financial will post 5.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sun Life Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 27th were paid a $0.96 dividend. This is a positive change from Sun Life Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 27th. This represents a $3.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.9%. Sun Life Financial’s payout ratio is presently 72.94%.

Sun Life Financial Company Profile

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.