Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) have earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eight have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is C$86.73.

Several research firms recently commented on SLF. National Bankshares raised shares of Sun Life Financial from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from C$82.00 to C$95.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$82.00 to C$87.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. CIBC boosted their price target on Sun Life Financial from C$96.00 to C$97.00 in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Sun Life Financial from C$85.00 to C$96.00 in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Sun Life Financial from C$90.00 to C$94.00 in a report on Thursday, November 14th.

Sun Life Financial Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of TSE SLF opened at C$82.81 on Friday. Sun Life Financial has a 1 year low of C$64.38 and a 1 year high of C$88.54. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of C$85.01 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of C$78.80. The company has a market cap of C$47.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.68, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 53.77, a current ratio of 65.29 and a quick ratio of 84,866.00.

Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The financial services provider reported C$1.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of C$1.71 by C$0.05. Sun Life Financial had a return on equity of 13.65% and a net margin of 9.90%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.59 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Sun Life Financial will post 6.9230769 earnings per share for the current year.

Sun Life Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 27th were issued a $0.84 dividend. This is a boost from Sun Life Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.81. This represents a $3.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.06%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 27th. Sun Life Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 61.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Senior Officer Linda Dougherty acquired 5,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of C$84.83 per share, with a total value of C$492,014.00. Also, Director Kevin Strain sold 85,943 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$84.71, for a total value of C$7,280,231.53. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.