Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) Price Target Raised to C$97.00

Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) had its price objective boosted by CIBC from C$96.00 to C$97.00 in a research note released on Thursday morning,BayStreet.CA reports.

SLF has been the subject of several other research reports. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$90.00 to C$94.00 in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Cormark raised their target price on Sun Life Financial from C$82.00 to C$85.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. National Bankshares upgraded Sun Life Financial from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from C$82.00 to C$95.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Sun Life Financial from C$78.00 to C$82.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, National Bank Financial raised Sun Life Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Sun Life Financial presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of C$86.73.

Sun Life Financial Trading Up 0.3 %

TSE SLF opened at C$83.81 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of C$48.32 billion, a PE ratio of 15.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.94. Sun Life Financial has a 1-year low of C$64.38 and a 1-year high of C$88.54. The stock has a 50-day moving average of C$85.13 and a 200-day moving average of C$78.60. 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 (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The financial services provider reported C$1.76 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 period in the previous year, the company posted $1.59 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Sun Life Financial will post 6.9230769 EPS for the current year.

Sun Life Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 27th were given a dividend of $0.84 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 27th. This is a positive change from Sun Life Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.81. This represents a $3.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.01%. Sun Life Financial’s payout ratio is currently 61.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Senior Officer Linda Dougherty purchased 5,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were 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 that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were 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 owned by corporate 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.