Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) has been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the ten analysts that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is C$84.64.

SLF has been the subject of several analyst reports. Barclays raised their target price on Sun Life Financial from C$82.00 to C$87.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. CIBC increased their target price on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$90.00 to C$96.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$78.00 to C$82.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Cormark increased their price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$82.00 to C$85.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, TD Securities boosted their target price on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$81.00 to C$87.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th.

Insider Activity at Sun Life Financial

In other Sun Life Financial news, Director Kevin Strain sold 85,943 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$84.71, for a total value of C$7,280,231.53. Also, Senior Officer Linda Dougherty acquired 5,800 shares of Sun Life Financial stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were acquired at an average price of C$84.83 per share, with a total value of C$492,014.00. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Sun Life Financial Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of TSE SLF opened at C$82.41 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of C$84.86 and a two-hundred day moving average price of C$76.99. The stock has a market cap of C$47.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.94. Sun Life Financial has a 52-week low of C$64.38 and a 52-week high of C$88.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 53.77, a quick ratio of 84,866.00 and a current ratio of 65.29.

Sun Life Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 27th were paid a $0.84 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 27th. This is an increase from Sun Life Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.81. This represents a $3.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.08%. Sun Life Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 61.36%.

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.