Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) Trading Down 8.9% – Time to Sell?

Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) shares dropped 8.9% on Thursday . The company traded as low as C$76.70 and last traded at C$77.12. Approximately 927,602 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 43% from the average daily volume of 1,613,666 shares. The stock had previously closed at C$84.63.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. TD Securities raised their target price on Sun Life Financial from C$81.00 to C$87.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Scotiabank upped their target price on Sun Life Financial from C$85.00 to C$96.00 in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. National Bank Financial upgraded Sun Life Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. National Bankshares upgraded Sun Life Financial from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from C$82.00 to C$95.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Cormark lifted their price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$82.00 to C$85.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s 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$87.70.

Sun Life Financial Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 84,866.00, a current ratio of 65.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 53.77. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is C$84.72 and its 200-day moving average price is C$79.44. The company has a market capitalization of C$44.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.94.

Sun Life Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th will be paid a $0.84 dividend. This represents a $3.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.37%. Sun Life Financial’s payout ratio is currently 61.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

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.