Csenge Advisory Group Invests $232,000 in Sun Life Financial Inc. (NYSE:SLF)

Csenge Advisory Group purchased a new position in Sun Life Financial Inc. (NYSE:SLF) (TSE:SLF) in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 4,247 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $232,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in SLF. Canoe Financial LP lifted its stake in shares of Sun Life Financial by 7,959.7% in the 4th quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 45,648,390 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,367,326,000 after acquiring an additional 45,082,012 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Sun Life Financial in the 4th quarter worth approximately $335,757,000. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of Sun Life Financial by 34.7% in the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 15,665,551 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $816,424,000 after acquiring an additional 4,035,394 shares during the period. Allianz Asset Management GmbH lifted its stake in shares of Sun Life Financial by 171.3% in the 4th quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 1,172,025 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $61,081,000 after acquiring an additional 740,014 shares during the period. Finally, AGF Management Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Sun Life Financial by 91.7% in the 4th quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 1,535,288 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $79,620,000 after acquiring an additional 734,549 shares during the period. 52.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Argus raised shares of Sun Life Financial to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 3rd.

Sun Life Financial Price Performance

SLF stock opened at $50.05 on Friday. Sun Life Financial Inc. has a 12 month low of $44.57 and a 12 month high of $55.46. The firm has a market cap of $29.02 billion, a PE ratio of 12.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 0.99. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $49.88 and a 200 day simple moving average of $51.64.

Sun Life Financial (NYSE:SLF) (TSE:SLF) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The financial services provider reported $1.11 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.20 by ($0.09). The business had revenue of $5.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.25 billion. Sun Life Financial had a net margin of 8.94% and a return on equity of 16.97%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Sun Life Financial Inc. will post 4.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Sun Life Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 29th were issued a $0.588 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 29th. This represents a $2.35 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.70%. This is a positive change from Sun Life Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.58. Sun Life Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 60.10%.

Sun Life Financial 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.