Manulife Financial Corp $MFC Stock Sold by Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd.

Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. trimmed its stake in Manulife Financial Corp (NYSE:MFC) (TSE:MFC) by 23.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 4,550,886 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,357,048 shares during the quarter. Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd.’s holdings in Manulife Financial were worth $194,376,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Addison Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Manulife Financial during the second quarter worth approximately $25,000. First Bancorp Inc ME acquired a new position in shares of Manulife Financial in the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Manulife Financial during the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. Livelsberger Financial Advisory purchased a new stake in shares of Manulife Financial during the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Finally, Provenance Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Manulife Financial during the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 52.56% of the company’s stock.

Manulife Financial Stock Performance

NYSE MFC opened at $44.24 on Tuesday. Manulife Financial Corp has a one year low of $32.58 and a one year high of $46.19. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $43.78 and its 200 day moving average price is $40.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $73.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.15 and a beta of 0.86.

Manulife Financial (NYSE:MFC) (TSE:MFC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 4th. The financial services provider reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.83 by $0.06. Manulife Financial had a net margin of 10.28% and a return on equity of 16.90%. The company had revenue of $8.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.67 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.16 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Manulife Financial Corp will post 3.00 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Manulife Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 20th will be paid a C$0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 20th. Manulife Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 54.55%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on MFC shares. Scotiabank downgraded Manulife Financial from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 27th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on Manulife Financial from $55.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Zacks Research raised Manulife Financial from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. TD Securities reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Manulife Financial from a “buy (a)” rating to a “buy (a+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Manulife Financial currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $58.75.

Manulife Financial Company Profile