Insider Selling: Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) Insider Sells 35,000 Shares of Stock

Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) insider Jacques Jr. Goulet sold 35,000 shares of Sun Life Financial stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$97.80, for a total transaction of C$3,423,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 1,054 shares in the company, valued at approximately C$103,081.20. This represents a 97.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock.

Jacques Jr. Goulet also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, May 11th, Jacques Jr. Goulet sold 11,740 shares of Sun Life Financial stock. The stock was sold at an average price of C$97.09, for a total transaction of C$1,139,836.60.

Sun Life Financial Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of TSE SLF traded up C$0.34 during midday trading on Friday, reaching C$98.64. 479,320 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,985,240. Sun Life Financial Inc. has a 1 year low of C$77.38 and a 1 year high of C$101.15. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of C$91.38 and a 200 day simple moving average of C$87.78. The stock has a market cap of C$54.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.37, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.73.

Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported C$1.89 EPS for the quarter. Sun Life Financial had a return on equity of 12.98% and a net margin of 9.12%.The firm had revenue of C$8.73 billion during the quarter. As a group, analysts forecast that Sun Life Financial Inc. will post 6.9230769 earnings per share for the current year.

Sun Life Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.96 per share. This represents a $3.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.9%. This is a boost from Sun Life Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 27th. Sun Life Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 67.04%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SLF has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$83.00 to C$95.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. TD Securities cut their price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$104.00 to C$102.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce raised their target price on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$95.00 to C$102.00 in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$84.00 to C$85.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. Finally, National Bank Financial cut their price target on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$109.00 to C$108.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Sun Life Financial presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of C$101.60.

Sun Life Financial Company Profile

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.