Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) Price Target Raised to C$141.00

Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) had its price target boosted by Jefferies Financial Group from C$131.00 to C$141.00 in a report issued on Monday morning,BayStreet.CA reports.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on SLF. Desjardins set a C$101.00 price target on Sun Life Financial and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 17th. TD boosted their price objective on Sun Life Financial from C$121.00 to C$124.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce boosted their price objective on Sun Life Financial from C$102.00 to C$116.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Barclays increased their target price on Sun Life Financial from C$96.00 to C$98.00 in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their target price on Sun Life Financial from C$98.00 to C$111.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of C$116.00.

Sun Life Financial Price Performance

TSE SLF opened at C$111.90 on Monday. Sun Life Financial has a 1 year low of C$79.15 and a 1 year high of C$118.99. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of C$111.79 and a 200 day simple moving average of C$98.94. The company has a current ratio of 27.38, a quick ratio of 84,866.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 34.34. The company has a market cap of C$61.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.80.

Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported C$2.02 EPS for the quarter. The firm had revenue of C$9.05 billion for the quarter. Sun Life Financial had a net margin of 8.81% and a return on equity of 13.89%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Sun Life Financial will post 6.9230769 EPS for the current year.

Sun Life Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th were issued a $0.96 dividend. This is a boost from Sun Life Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 27th. This represents a $3.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.4%. Sun Life Financial’s payout ratio is currently 62.37%.

Insider Activity at Sun Life Financial

In other news, insider Helena Janina Pagano sold 17,283 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$101.32, for a total transaction of C$1,751,113.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 228 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately C$23,100.96. This represents a 98.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Also, insider Linda Dougherty sold 3,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$101.40, for a total transaction of C$354,900.00. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 216,461 shares of company stock valued at $22,287,387. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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. Sun Life generates about a third of its profit from asset-management operations.