Jefferies Financial Group Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Manulife Financial (TSE:MFC) Stock

Manulife Financial (TSE:MFC) (NYSE:MFC) had its target price lifted by research analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from C$54.00 to C$58.00 in a research report issued on Monday,BayStreet.CA reports. Jefferies Financial Group’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 11.00% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research analysts have also recently commented on MFC. Cibc Captl Mkts upgraded shares of Manulife Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 8th. CIBC raised Manulife Financial from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from C$50.00 to C$58.00 in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a C$52.00 price target on shares of Manulife Financial and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 19th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Manulife Financial from C$49.00 to C$52.00 in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Finally, UBS Group raised Manulife Financial to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of C$54.63.

Manulife Financial Stock Performance

Shares of TSE MFC traded up C$0.38 during trading on Monday, reaching C$52.25. The company had a trading volume of 1,517,893 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,599,804. The business’s 50 day moving average price is C$50.22 and its 200-day moving average price is C$46.13. The stock has a market cap of C$87.63 billion, a PE ratio of 16.75, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.01. Manulife Financial has a 52 week low of C$36.93 and a 52 week high of C$52.97.

Manulife Financial (TSE:MFC) (NYSE:MFC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 12th. The financial services provider reported C$1.16 EPS for the quarter. Manulife Financial had a return on equity of 11.75% and a net margin of 12.52%.The business had revenue of C$26.23 billion during the quarter. Equities analysts anticipate that Manulife Financial will post 3.6104452 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Manulife Financial

In other news, insider Shamus Edward Weiland sold 88,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$48.95, for a total value of C$4,332,075.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 53,495 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately C$2,618,580.25. This represents a 62.33% decrease in their position. Also, insider Rahim Hirji sold 25,048 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of C$48.25, for a total transaction of C$1,208,566.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 31,315 shares of the company’s stock, valued at C$1,510,948.75. This represents a 44.44% decrease in their position. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.