Midwest Professional Planners LTD. Has $994,000 Stake in Manulife Financial Corp $MFC

Midwest Professional Planners LTD. grew its holdings in Manulife Financial Corp (NYSE:MFC) (TSE:MFC) by 173.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 27,397 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 17,380 shares during the period. Midwest Professional Planners LTD.’s holdings in Manulife Financial were worth $994,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Saranac Partners Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Manulife Financial in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $205,000. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Manulife Financial by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 178,889 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,490,000 after buying an additional 1,645 shares during the last quarter. Yanni & Associates Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Manulife Financial in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $441,000. Entrust Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Manulife Financial in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $92,000. Finally, Arjuna Capital lifted its position in shares of Manulife Financial by 133.3% in the fourth quarter. Arjuna Capital now owns 128,308 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,655,000 after buying an additional 73,314 shares during the last quarter. 52.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MFC has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Scotiabank reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Weiss Ratings raised Manulife Financial from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Finally, TD Securities reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a report on Thursday, May 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and six have given a Buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $51.50.

Manulife Financial Trading Down 1.1%

NYSE:MFC opened at $37.83 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $63.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.01 and a beta of 0.87. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $36.62 and a 200 day simple moving average of $36.12. Manulife Financial Corp has a 1-year low of $29.70 and a 1-year high of $40.40.

Manulife Financial (NYSE:MFC) (TSE:MFC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 13th. The financial services provider reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.79 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $8.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.32 billion. Manulife Financial had a return on equity of 16.58% and a net margin of 10.19%.During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.99 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Manulife Financial Corp will post 3.2 EPS for the current year.

Manulife Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 19th. Investors of record on Friday, May 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.485 per share. This represents a $1.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 29th. Manulife Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.35%.

Manulife Financial Profile

Manulife Financial Corporation is a multinational insurance and financial services company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. Founded in the late 19th century as The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company, Manulife provides a broad range of financial products and services to individual and institutional clients. Its core businesses include life and health insurance, retirement and pension solutions, wealth and asset management, and group benefits.

In wealth and asset management, Manulife operates through Manulife Investment Management and offers mutual funds, segregated funds, institutional asset management, and retirement plan solutions.