Sun Life Financial Inc. $SLF Shares Sold by QV Investors Inc.

QV Investors Inc. cut its stake in Sun Life Financial Inc. (NYSE:SLF) (TSE:SLF) by 5.7% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 487,300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 29,210 shares during the quarter. Sun Life Financial accounts for about 2.9% of QV Investors Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest position. QV Investors Inc.’s holdings in Sun Life Financial were worth $38,246,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Plato Investment Management Ltd acquired a new stake in Sun Life Financial during the 2nd quarter valued at $2,888,000. Osmosis Investment Management UK Ltd purchased a new position in Sun Life Financial in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,637,000. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Sun Life Financial by 1,342.4% in the 1st quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. now owns 50,152 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,141,000 after buying an additional 46,675 shares during the last quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Sun Life Financial by 58.3% during the fourth quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,012,083 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $125,598,000 after acquiring an additional 741,136 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia acquired a new position in shares of Sun Life Financial in the second quarter worth about $544,052,000. 52.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SLF has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Sun Life Financial in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Scotiabank reissued a “sector perform” rating on shares of Sun Life Financial in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Argus set a $81.00 price target on shares of Sun Life Financial in a research note on Wednesday, June 10th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Sun Life Financial from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, Evercore downgraded shares of Sun Life Financial from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, July 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $96.33.

Sun Life Financial Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of NYSE SLF opened at $78.82 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $43.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.42 and a beta of 0.88. Sun Life Financial Inc. has a twelve month low of $57.22 and a twelve month high of $84.38. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $80.32 and a 200-day simple moving average of $72.73.

Sun Life Financial (NYSE:SLF) (TSE:SLF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.46 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.07. Sun Life Financial had a net margin of 7.66% and a return on equity of 17.96%. The firm had revenue of $10.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $994.33 million. As a group, equities analysts predict that Sun Life Financial Inc. will post 5.72 earnings per share for the current year.

Sun Life Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 29th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 26th will be issued a $0.96 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 26th. This represents a $3.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.9%. Sun Life Financial’s payout ratio is 64.02%.

Sun Life Financial 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.