Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) Director Kevin Strain Sells 2,935 Shares

Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) Director Kevin Strain sold 2,935 shares of Sun Life Financial stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$96.55, for a total transaction of C$283,374.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 42,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately C$4,055,100. This represents a 6.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock.

Kevin Strain also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, May 12th, Kevin Strain sold 104,744 shares of Sun Life Financial stock. The shares were sold at an average price of C$96.99, for a total transaction of C$10,159,120.56.

Sun Life Financial Stock Performance

TSE SLF traded up C$0.26 during trading on Wednesday, reaching C$97.01. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 935,475 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,003,395. The firm has a market cap of C$53.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.73. Sun Life Financial Inc. has a twelve month low of C$77.38 and a twelve month high of C$101.15. The business’s fifty day moving average price is C$91.18 and its 200-day moving average price is C$87.70.

Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported C$1.89 EPS for the quarter. The company had revenue of C$8.73 billion for the quarter. Sun Life Financial had a net margin of 9.12% and a return on equity of 12.98%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Sun Life Financial Inc. will post 6.9230769 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sun Life Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be paid a $0.96 dividend. This is a boost from Sun Life Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. This represents a $3.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 27th. Sun Life Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 67.04%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on SLF. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$84.00 to C$85.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$99.00 to C$105.00 in a research report on Friday, May 8th. National Bank Financial lowered their price objective on Sun Life Financial from C$109.00 to C$108.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on Sun Life Financial from C$93.00 to C$96.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Desjardins set a C$101.00 price objective on Sun Life Financial and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Sun Life Financial currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of C$101.60.

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. Sun Life generates about a third of its profit from asset-management operations.