Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Has $213.43 Million Stake in Manulife Financial Corp $MFC

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA trimmed its position in Manulife Financial Corp (NYSE:MFC) (TSE:MFC) by 8.5% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,268,602 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 490,471 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned approximately 0.32% of Manulife Financial worth $213,431,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Warburton Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Manulife Financial during the second quarter worth about $201,000. Everhart Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Manulife Financial in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $234,000. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Manulife Financial in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $343,000. PensionDanmark Pensionsforsikringsaktieselskab boosted its position in Manulife Financial by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. PensionDanmark Pensionsforsikringsaktieselskab now owns 363,743 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $14,747,000 after acquiring an additional 3,610 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in Manulife Financial by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 71,226 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,888,000 after acquiring an additional 897 shares during the last quarter. 52.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Manulife Financial from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. TD Securities restated a “buy” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Manulife Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Manulife Financial from $55.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Manulife Financial has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $59.00.

Manulife Financial Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MFC opened at $44.45 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $42.09 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.71. Manulife Financial Corp has a 52 week low of $29.70 and a 52 week high of $45.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $73.88 billion, a PE ratio of 16.59 and a beta of 0.84.

Manulife Financial (NYSE:MFC) (TSE:MFC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The financial services provider reported $0.79 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $2.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.28 billion. Manulife Financial had a return on equity of 16.68% and a net margin of 9.99%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.95 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Manulife Financial Corp will post 3.03 EPS for the current year.

Manulife Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 21st. Investors of record on Friday, August 21st will be paid a $0.485 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 21st. This represents a $1.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.4%. Manulife Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.49%.

Manulife Financial Company Profile

Manulife Financial Corporation is a multinational insurance and financial services company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. Founded in the late 19th century as The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company, Manulife provides a broad range of financial products and services to individual and institutional clients. Its core businesses include life and health insurance, retirement and pension solutions, wealth and asset management, and group benefits.

In wealth and asset management, Manulife operates through Manulife Investment Management and offers mutual funds, segregated funds, institutional asset management, and retirement plan solutions.