Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the ten brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is C$84.64.

SLF has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Sun Life Financial from C$78.00 to C$82.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Scotiabank raised their price target on Sun Life Financial from C$85.00 to C$96.00 in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. CIBC upped their price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$90.00 to C$96.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Cormark raised their target price on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$82.00 to C$85.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, TD Securities boosted their target price 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, November 14th.

Insider Activity

In other 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 bought at an average price 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 that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$84.71, for a total transaction of C$7,280,231.53. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Sun Life Financial Stock Down 1.3 %

SLF stock opened at C$84.41 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is C$84.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is C$76.37. 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 market capitalization of C$48.66 billion, a PE ratio of 15.99, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a current ratio of 65.29, a quick ratio of 84,866.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 53.77.

Sun Life Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 27th were issued a $0.84 dividend. This is an increase 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 3.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 27th. Sun Life Financial’s payout ratio is 61.36%.

Sun Life Financial Company Profile

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.