Manulife Financial Corp (MFC) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of C$0.49 on March 19th

Manulife Financial Corp (NYSE:MFC) (TSE:MFC) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 11th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 25th will be given a dividend of 0.485 per share by the financial services provider on Thursday, March 19th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.4%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 25th. This is a 10.2% increase from Manulife Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44.

Manulife Financial has raised its dividend by an average of 0.1%per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 12 consecutive years. Manulife Financial has a payout ratio of 39.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Manulife Financial to earn $3.15 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.25 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 39.7%.

Manulife Financial Stock Performance

Shares of MFC opened at $35.77 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $59.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.11 and a beta of 0.83. Manulife Financial has a 52 week low of $25.92 and a 52 week high of $38.72. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $36.82 and its 200 day simple moving average is $33.68.

Manulife Financial (NYSE:MFC) (TSE:MFC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 12th. The financial services provider reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $12.90 billion during the quarter. Manulife Financial had a return on equity of 16.44% and a net margin of 9.18%.During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.00 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Manulife Financial will post 2.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Manulife Financial

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. increased its holdings in Manulife Financial by 25.8% in the 2nd quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 46,218 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,477,000 after acquiring an additional 9,478 shares during the last quarter. Cidel Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Manulife Financial by 2.9% during the second quarter. Cidel Asset Management Inc. now owns 496,570 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $15,845,000 after purchasing an additional 14,088 shares during the period. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. boosted its position in Manulife Financial by 2.5% during the third quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 6,861,208 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $215,779,000 after purchasing an additional 166,076 shares during the period. OPTIMAS CAPITAL Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Manulife Financial in the third quarter worth about $8,021,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in shares of Manulife Financial by 44.6% in the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 642,498 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $20,207,000 after purchasing an additional 198,208 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 52.56% of the company’s stock.

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.