Desjardins Reiterates C$55.00 Price Target for Manulife Financial (TSE:MFC)

Manulife Financial (TSE:MFC) (NYSE:MFC) has been given a C$55.00 target price by equities researchers at Desjardins in a note issued to investors on Thursday,BayStreet.CA reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Desjardins’ price target would suggest a potential upside of 10.46% from the stock’s current price.

MFC has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Manulife Financial from C$49.00 to C$52.00 in a research note on Friday, November 14th. National Bankshares increased their target price on Manulife Financial from C$47.00 to C$52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 20th. TD Securities lifted their price target on Manulife Financial from C$54.00 to C$57.00 in a report on Thursday, November 13th. CIBC upped their price objective on Manulife Financial from C$49.00 to C$50.00 in a research report on Friday, November 14th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Manulife Financial from C$47.00 to C$48.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Manulife Financial presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of C$51.25.

Manulife Financial Trading Up 1.4%

TSE:MFC traded up C$0.69 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching C$49.79. The company had a trading volume of 1,539,646 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,124,685. Manulife Financial has a 12-month low of C$36.93 and a 12-month high of C$49.85. The firm has a market capitalization of C$83.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.96, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.94. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is C$47.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is C$44.32.

Manulife Financial (TSE:MFC) (NYSE:MFC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 12th. The financial services provider reported C$1.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The company had revenue of C$26.23 billion for the quarter. Manulife Financial had a return on equity of 11.75% and a net margin of 12.52%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Manulife Financial will post 3.6104452 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Manulife Financial

In other news, insider Rahim Hirji sold 25,048 shares of Manulife Financial stock in a transaction on Friday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of C$48.25, for a total value of C$1,208,566.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 31,315 shares of the company’s stock, valued at C$1,510,948.75. The trade was a 44.44% decrease in their position. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Manulife Financial Company Profile

Manulife provides life insurance and wealth management products and services to individuals and group customers in Canada, the United States, and Asia. Manulife is one of Canada’s Big Three Life Insurance companies (the other two are Sun Life and Great West Life). As of Dec. 31, 2021, Manulife reported assets under management or administration of about CAD $1.4 trillion.