Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) Hits New 12-Month High at $17.25

Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high on Monday . The company traded as high as C$17.25 and last traded at C$72.63, with a volume of 458160 shares. The stock had previously closed at C$71.75.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. TD Securities increased their price objective on Sun Life Financial from C$73.00 to C$75.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Evercore upped their price target on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$76.00 to C$78.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Desjardins raised their price target on Sun Life Financial from C$75.00 to C$77.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. National Bankshares boosted their price objective on Sun Life Financial from C$72.00 to C$73.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, CIBC increased their target price on Sun Life Financial from C$77.00 to C$80.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of C$77.18.

Sun Life Financial Stock Up 1.3 %

The firm has a 50 day moving average price of C$72.32 and a 200-day moving average price of C$69.85. The firm has a market cap of C$42.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 78.47, a current ratio of 6.81 and a quick ratio of 84,866.00.

Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The financial services provider reported C$1.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of C$1.59 by C$0.09. The company had revenue of C$18.68 billion for the quarter. Sun Life Financial had a net margin of 10.26% and a return on equity of 13.98%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Sun Life Financial Inc. will post 6.9056785 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sun Life Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 28th were given a dividend of $0.78 per share. This is a boost from Sun Life Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 27th. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.29%. Sun Life Financial’s payout ratio is presently 59.32%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Senior Officer Daniel Fishbein sold 16,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$74.45, for a total transaction of C$1,191,120.00. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Sun Life Financial

Sun Life Financial Inc, a financial services company, provides savings, retirement, and pension products worldwide. The company operates in five segments: Asset Management, Canada, U.S., Asia, and Corporate. It offers various insurance products, such as term and permanent life; personal health, which includes prescription drugs, dental, and vision care; critical illness; long-term care; and disability, as well as reinsurance.