Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) Reaches New 1-Year High – Time to Buy?

Shares of Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as C$89.08 and last traded at C$88.91, with a volume of 4862332 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at C$87.60.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on SLF. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$96.00 to C$90.00 in a report on Monday, April 21st. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$87.00 to C$86.00 in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Cormark raised shares of Sun Life Financial from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$82.00 to C$88.00 in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Finally, National Bankshares lowered their price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$95.00 to C$93.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of C$86.89.

Sun Life Financial Price Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average price is C$82.08 and its 200-day moving average price is C$82.90. The company has a market capitalization of C$50.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a quick ratio of 84,866.00, a current ratio of 92.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 26.00.

Sun Life Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th will be issued a $0.88 dividend. This is a positive change from Sun Life Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.84. This represents a $3.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.97%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 28th. Sun Life Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.87%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Sun Life Financial news, Senior Officer Jacques Jr. Goulet sold 26,812 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$87.21, for a total value of C$2,338,274.52. Also, Senior Officer Stephen Peacher sold 80,048 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of C$87.70, for a total transaction of C$7,020,209.60. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.