Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) Sets New 1-Year High – Here’s What Happened

Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as C$110.37 and last traded at C$110.02, with a volume of 489639 shares. The stock had previously closed at C$108.70.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SLF has been the topic of several research reports. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce lifted their price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$95.00 to C$102.00 in a research report on Friday, May 8th. TD raised their price target on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$102.00 to C$107.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$99.00 to C$105.00 in a report on Friday, May 8th. National Bank Financial reduced their price objective 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. Finally, Desjardins set a C$101.00 target price on Sun Life Financial and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of C$101.60.

Sun Life Financial Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 33.48, a quick ratio of 84,866.00 and a current ratio of 6.03. The stock has a market cap of C$60.98 billion, a PE ratio of 20.49, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.84. The company’s 50-day moving average price is C$98.20 and its two-hundred day moving average price is C$90.67.

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

Sun Life Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 is a positive change 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.5%. Sun Life Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 67.04%.

Insider Transactions at Sun Life Financial

In other Sun Life Financial news, insider Jacques Jr. Goulet sold 35,000 shares of Sun Life Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$97.80, for a total value of C$3,423,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 1,054 shares of the company’s stock, valued at C$103,081.20. The trade was a 97.08% decrease in their position. Also, Director Kevin Strain sold 104,744 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$96.99, for a total transaction of C$10,159,120.56. Following the sale, the director owned 42,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at C$4,073,580. This represents a 71.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 380,998 shares of company stock valued at $38,271,605. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.