Manulife Financial Corp (NYSE:MFC) Short Interest Update

Manulife Financial Corp (NYSE:MFC) (TSE:MFC) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in May. As of May 29th, there was short interest totaling 24,904,565 shares, an increase of 66.0% from the May 14th total of 15,001,396 shares. Currently, 1.5% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 3,331,786 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 7.5 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on MFC. Scotiabank reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Manulife Financial from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Finally, TD Securities reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and five have assigned a Buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $51.50.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Manulife Financial

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Manulife Financial by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 78,317,970 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,843,882,000 after acquiring an additional 1,606,480 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc increased its position in Manulife Financial by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 38,181,297 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,388,259,000 after purchasing an additional 542,834 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its stake in Manulife Financial by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 28,550,943 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,041,431,000 after purchasing an additional 728,643 shares during the last quarter. Canerector Inc. lifted its holdings in Manulife Financial by 4,445.8% in the 3rd quarter. Canerector Inc. now owns 28,184,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $877,932,000 after purchasing an additional 27,564,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Manulife Financial in the 4th quarter valued at about $777,229,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 52.56% of the company’s stock.

Manulife Financial Stock Performance

MFC traded up $0.44 on Monday, hitting $40.75. 982,793 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,340,203. Manulife Financial has a fifty-two week low of $29.70 and a fifty-two week high of $40.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $68.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.17 and a beta of 0.84. The business’s fifty day moving average is $38.31 and its 200 day moving average is $36.77.

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

Manulife Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 29th will be paid a dividend of $0.485 per share. This represents a $1.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 29th. Manulife Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 56.75%.

About Manulife Financial

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.