Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) Insider Melissa Jane Kennedy Sells 7,366 Shares

Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) insider Melissa Jane Kennedy sold 7,366 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$101.49, for a total transaction of C$747,575.34. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 13,916 shares in the company, valued at approximately C$1,412,334.84. The trade was a 34.61% decrease in their position.

Sun Life Financial Price Performance

SLF stock traded down C$1.25 on Thursday, reaching C$99.18. 1,771,779 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,011,661. Sun Life Financial Inc. has a 12 month low of C$77.38 and a 12 month high of C$101.94. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is C$93.71 and its 200 day moving average price is C$88.68. The firm has a market capitalization of C$54.95 billion, a PE ratio of 18.47, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.73.

Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported C$1.89 earnings per share for the quarter. Sun Life Financial had a net margin of 9.12% and a return on equity of 12.98%. The business had revenue of C$8.73 billion for the quarter. As a group, research analysts expect that Sun Life Financial Inc. will post 6.9230769 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sun Life Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be paid a $0.96 dividend. This is a boost from Sun Life Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. This represents a $3.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 27th. Sun Life Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 67.04%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Sun Life Financial from C$103.00 to C$115.00 in a report on Friday, May 1st. Barclays lifted their target price on Sun Life Financial from C$84.00 to C$85.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on Sun Life Financial from C$83.00 to C$95.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Desjardins set a C$101.00 price objective on Sun Life Financial and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Finally, National Bank Financial reduced their price target on Sun Life Financial from C$109.00 to C$108.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of C$101.60.

About Sun Life Financial

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. Sun Life generates about a third of its profit from asset-management operations.