Manulife Financial Corp (NYSE:MFC) Given Average Recommendation of “Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Manulife Financial Corp (NYSE:MFC) (TSE:MFC) have received an average rating of “Buy” from the seven analysts that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $51.50.

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MFC. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Manulife Financial from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Scotiabank restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. TD Securities restated a “buy” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a research note on Friday, February 13th.

Institutional Trading of Manulife Financial

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. UBS Group AG boosted its position in shares of Manulife Financial by 10.0% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 4,016,230 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $145,709,000 after purchasing an additional 363,963 shares in the last quarter. OPTIMAS CAPITAL Ltd bought a new position in shares of Manulife Financial during the 3rd quarter valued at about $8,021,000. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in shares of Manulife Financial by 5.7% during the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 11,541,321 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $359,662,000 after purchasing an additional 621,093 shares in the last quarter. Sienna Gestion boosted its position in shares of Manulife Financial by 233.6% during the 3rd quarter. Sienna Gestion now owns 556,239 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $15,804,000 after purchasing an additional 389,500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allianz SE bought a new position in shares of Manulife Financial during the 3rd quarter valued at about $879,000. Institutional investors own 52.56% of the company’s stock.

Manulife Financial Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of MFC stock opened at $38.75 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $64.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.38 and a beta of 0.84. Manulife Financial has a fifty-two week low of $29.70 and a fifty-two week high of $40.40. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $37.79 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $36.57.

Manulife Financial (NYSE:MFC) (TSE:MFC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 13th. The financial services provider reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $8.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.32 billion. Manulife Financial had a net margin of 10.19% and a return on equity of 16.58%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.99 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Manulife Financial will post 3.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Manulife Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 29th will be paid a dividend of $0.485 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 29th. This represents a $1.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.0%. Manulife Financial’s payout ratio is presently 56.75%.

About Manulife Financial

Manulife Financial Corporation is a multinational insurance and financial services company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. Founded in the late 19th century as The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company, Manulife provides a broad range of financial products and services to individual and institutional clients. Its core businesses include life and health insurance, retirement and pension solutions, wealth and asset management, and group benefits.

In wealth and asset management, Manulife operates through Manulife Investment Management and offers mutual funds, segregated funds, institutional asset management, and retirement plan solutions.