Brokerages Set Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) Target Price at C$86.73

Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) has earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven research firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eight have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is C$86.73.

A number of analysts have weighed in on SLF shares. TD Securities upped their target price on Sun Life Financial from C$81.00 to C$87.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. National Bankshares raised Sun Life Financial from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from C$82.00 to C$95.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. National Bank Financial upgraded Sun Life Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Sun Life Financial from C$90.00 to C$94.00 in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Sun Life Financial from C$78.00 to C$82.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 6th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Sun Life Financial news, Senior Officer Linda Dougherty bought 5,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were purchased 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 Sun Life Financial stock in a transaction dated 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 insiders.

Sun Life Financial Price Performance

Sun Life Financial stock opened at C$83.05 on Friday. 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 has a 52-week low of C$64.38 and a 52-week high of C$88.54. The firm’s fifty day moving average is C$85.13 and its 200 day moving average is C$78.75. The company has a market cap of C$47.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.73, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.94.

Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The financial services provider reported C$1.76 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 prior year, the company posted $1.59 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Sun Life Financial will post 6.9230769 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sun Life Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 27th were given a $0.84 dividend. This represents a $3.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 27th. This is a boost from Sun Life Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.81. Sun Life Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.