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

Shares of Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) have received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the ten brokerages that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have given a hold recommendation, five have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is C$88.11.

SLF has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Desjardins decreased their price objective on Sun Life Financial from C$95.00 to C$90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 11th. National Bankshares downgraded Sun Life Financial from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from C$93.00 to C$87.00 in a report on Friday, August 8th. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on Sun Life Financial from C$88.00 to C$83.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 11th. Barclays increased their price objective on Sun Life Financial from C$82.00 to C$84.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Argus upgraded Sun Life Financial to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 4th.

Insider Activity at Sun Life Financial

In related news, insider Thomas Murphy purchased 3,389 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was acquired at an average price of C$79.37 per share, for a total transaction of C$268,973.75. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider directly owned 3,389 shares of the company’s stock, valued at C$268,973.75. This trade represents a ? increase in their ownership of the stock. Insiders purchased a total of 4,262 shares of company stock worth $338,105 in the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Sun Life Financial Price Performance

SLF stock opened at C$86.24 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of C$48.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.29, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.84. Sun Life Financial has a twelve month low of C$74.56 and a twelve month high of C$91.11. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of C$81.96 and a 200-day simple moving average of C$83.83. The company has a current ratio of 92.19, a quick ratio of 84,866.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 26.00.

Sun Life Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 29th were paid a dividend of $0.88 per share. This represents a $3.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 27th. Sun Life Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 59.75%.

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.