Sun Life Financial Inc. (NYSE:SLF) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Sun Life Financial Inc. (NYSE:SLF) (TSE:SLF) has been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the twelve analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $84.6667.

Several research firms have recently weighed in on SLF. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Sun Life Financial in a report on Friday, May 8th. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Sun Life Financial in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Scotiabank reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating on shares of Sun Life Financial in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. TD Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Sun Life Financial in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Argus set a $81.00 price objective on Sun Life Financial in a research note on Wednesday, June 10th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sun Life Financial

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Rathbones Group PLC lifted its stake in shares of Sun Life Financial by 1.8% in the first quarter. Rathbones Group PLC now owns 12,950 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $809,000 after acquiring an additional 235 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Sun Life Financial by 15.1% in the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 4,273 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $267,000 after acquiring an additional 559 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in shares of Sun Life Financial by 33.4% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 83,904 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,243,000 after acquiring an additional 20,993 shares during the period. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas lifted its stake in shares of Sun Life Financial by 4.3% in the first quarter. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas now owns 87,316 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,462,000 after acquiring an additional 3,600 shares during the period. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Sun Life Financial by 44.6% in the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,567 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $223,000 after acquiring an additional 1,101 shares during the period. 52.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Sun Life Financial Trading Up 1.4%

NYSE:SLF opened at $77.64 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $43.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.01 and a beta of 0.90. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $71.25 and its 200-day moving average is $65.89. Sun Life Financial has a 1-year low of $56.22 and a 1-year high of $77.93.

Sun Life Financial (NYSE:SLF) (TSE:SLF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $6.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $925.99 million. Sun Life Financial had a return on equity of 17.80% and a net margin of 7.85%.During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.82 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Sun Life Financial will post 5.76 EPS for the current year.

Sun Life Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 27th will be paid a $0.96 dividend. This is an increase from Sun Life Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. This represents a $3.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 27th. Sun Life Financial’s payout ratio is presently 72.68%.

About Sun Life Financial

Sun Life Financial Inc, founded in 1865 and headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, is an international financial services organization that provides a range of insurance, wealth management and asset management solutions. The company serves individual and institutional clients, offering products designed to protect against life and health risks, help clients save for retirement, and manage investments on behalf of customers and third parties.

Core business activities include life and health insurance, group benefits for employers, retirement and pension products, and wealth management services such as mutual funds and segregated fund solutions.