Equitable Holdings Inc. Purchases New Stake in Manulife Financial Corp $MFC

Equitable Holdings Inc. acquired a new position in Manulife Financial Corp (NYSE:MFC) (TSE:MFC) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 14,301 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $579,000.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Manulife Financial in the fourth quarter valued at $777,229,000. Bank of Nova Scotia purchased a new stake in Manulife Financial during the second quarter valued at about $594,832,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought a new position in Manulife Financial during the second quarter worth about $495,841,000. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in Manulife Financial in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $430,039,000. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund grew its stake in Manulife Financial by 183.7% in the 1st quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 11,702,230 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $402,969,000 after buying an additional 7,577,711 shares in the last quarter. 52.56% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Weiss Ratings raised Manulife Financial from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (a)” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. TD Securities reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on Manulife Financial from $55.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Scotiabank reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Zacks Research cut Manulife Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Manulife Financial currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $59.00.

Manulife Financial Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of NYSE MFC opened at $42.82 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $71.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.98 and a beta of 0.84. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $42.72 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $39.08. Manulife Financial Corp has a twelve month low of $30.20 and a twelve month high of $45.33.

Manulife Financial (NYSE:MFC) (TSE:MFC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The financial services provider reported $0.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.01. Manulife Financial had a return on equity of 16.68% and a net margin of 9.99%.The firm had revenue of $2.22 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.28 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.95 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Manulife Financial Corp will post 3.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Manulife Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 21st will be given a dividend of $0.485 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 21st. This represents a $1.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.5%. Manulife Financial’s payout ratio is presently 51.49%.

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.