Scotiabank Issues Positive Forecast for Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) Stock Price

Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) had its target price upped by Scotiabank from C$85.00 to C$96.00 in a research note released on Thursday morning,BayStreet.CA reports.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$76.00 to C$79.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$78.00 to C$82.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. TD Securities increased their price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$81.00 to C$87.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Cormark increased their price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$82.00 to C$85.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$81.00 to C$89.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of C$84.18.

Sun Life Financial Stock Down 1.4 %

TSE:SLF traded down C$1.17 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching C$84.78. The company had a trading volume of 184,864 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,008,130. Sun Life Financial has a twelve month low of C$64.38 and a twelve month high of C$86.39. The firm has a market cap of C$48.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.94. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is C$78.34 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is C$72.22. The company has a quick ratio of 84,866.00, a current ratio of 65.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 53.77.

Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) last posted its earnings results on Monday, August 12th. The financial services provider reported C$1.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of C$1.58 by C$0.13. The firm had revenue of C$8.92 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of C$9.18 billion. Sun Life Financial had a net margin of 9.90% and a return on equity of 13.65%. On average, equities analysts expect that Sun Life Financial will post 6.9230769 earnings per share for the current year.

Sun Life Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 27th will be given a dividend of $0.84 per share. This is a positive change from Sun Life Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.81. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 27th. This represents a $3.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.96%. Sun Life Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 61.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sun Life Financial

In other news, Senior Officer Linda Dougherty sold 2,000 shares of Sun Life Financial stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$75.30, for a total value of C$150,590.00. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Sun Life Financial Company Profile

Sun Life Financial Inc, a financial services company, provides savings, retirement, and pension products worldwide. The company operates in five segments: Asset Management, Canada, U.S., Asia, and Corporate. It offers various insurance products, such as term and permanent life; personal health, which includes prescription drugs, dental, and vision care; critical illness; long-term care; and disability, as well as reinsurance.