Linda Dougherty Sells 3,500 Shares of Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) Stock

Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) insider Linda Dougherty sold 3,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$101.40, for a total value of C$354,900.00.

Linda Dougherty also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Thursday, May 14th, Linda Dougherty purchased 6,740 shares of Sun Life Financial stock. The stock was purchased at an average price of C$97.97 per share, with a total value of C$660,317.80.
• On Wednesday, May 13th, Linda Dougherty sold 5,000 shares of Sun Life Financial stock. The shares were sold at an average price of C$97.01, for a total value of C$485,050.00.
• On Wednesday, May 13th, Linda Dougherty sold 5,118 shares of Sun Life Financial stock. The shares were sold at an average price of C$96.49, for a total value of C$493,835.82.

Sun Life Financial Stock Performance

Shares of SLF opened at C$99.08 on Friday. Sun Life Financial Inc. has a 52 week low of C$77.38 and a 52 week high of C$101.94. The stock has a market capitalization of C$54.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.45, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.73. The stock has a fifty day moving average of C$94.18 and a 200-day moving average of C$88.88.

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

Sun Life Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be paid a $0.96 dividend. This represents a $3.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 27th. This is a positive change from Sun Life Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. Sun Life Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 67.04%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on SLF shares. Scotiabank increased their price target on Sun Life Financial from C$93.00 to C$96.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Barclays increased their price target on Sun Life Financial from C$84.00 to C$85.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Sun Life Financial from C$99.00 to C$105.00 in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce increased their price target on Sun Life Financial from C$95.00 to C$102.00 in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Sun Life Financial from C$103.00 to C$115.00 in a research report on Friday, May 1st. One equities research 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 assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of C$101.60.

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