Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) Hits New 52-Week High – Time to Buy?

Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) shares hit a new 52-week high on Thursday . The stock traded as high as C$20.30 and last traded at C$100.84, with a volume of 1644234 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at C$100.26.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on SLF. Desjardins set a C$101.00 price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 17th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$103.00 to C$115.00 in a research report on Friday, May 1st. TD Securities dropped their price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$104.00 to C$102.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$99.00 to C$105.00 in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$93.00 to C$96.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Sun Life Financial currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of C$101.60.

Sun Life Financial Price Performance

The company’s 50-day moving average price is C$92.25 and its two-hundred day moving average price is C$88.14. The company has a market capitalization of C$55.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.73.

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

Sun Life Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be paid a $0.96 dividend. This represents a $3.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.8%. 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 is currently 67.04%.

Insider Activity at Sun Life Financial

In related news, insider Jacques Jr. Goulet sold 35,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$97.80, for a total value of C$3,423,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly 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. Also, insider Linda Dougherty purchased 6,740 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was acquired at an average price of C$97.97 per share, for a total transaction of C$660,317.80. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider directly owned 13,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at C$1,320,635.60. This represents a 100.00% increase in their position. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 164,537 shares of company stock worth $15,984,217. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

About Sun Life Financial

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.