Brokerages Set Manulife Financial Co. (TSE:MFC) Target Price at C$49.78

Manulife Financial Co. (TSE:MFC) (NYSE:MFC) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the eight ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is C$50.11.

MFC has been the topic of several research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Manulife Financial from C$51.00 to C$49.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 8th. CIBC increased their target price on shares of Manulife Financial from C$44.00 to C$49.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. UBS Group raised Manulife Financial to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Desjardins boosted their price target on Manulife Financial from C$48.00 to C$52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. Finally, National Bankshares lifted their target price on Manulife Financial from C$47.00 to C$52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 20th.

Manulife Financial Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of TSE MFC opened at C$48.30 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of C$81.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.94. Manulife Financial has a twelve month low of C$36.93 and a twelve month high of C$49.82. The stock has a 50 day moving average of C$44.69 and a two-hundred day moving average of C$43.44.

Manulife Financial (TSE:MFC) (NYSE:MFC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 12th. The financial services provider reported C$1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Manulife Financial had a net margin of 12.52% and a return on equity of 11.75%. The business had revenue of C$43.35 billion for the quarter. As a group, research analysts predict that Manulife Financial will post 3.6104452 earnings per share for the current year.

Manulife Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 19th. Investors of record on Friday, September 19th were issued a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 20th. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.6%. Manulife Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 54.19%.

Manulife Financial Company Profile

Manulife provides life insurance and wealth management products and services to individuals and group customers in Canada, the United States, and Asia. Manulife is one of Canada’s Big Three Life Insurance companies (the other two are Sun Life and Great West Life). As of Dec. 31, 2021, Manulife reported assets under management or administration of about CAD $1.4 trillion.