SVB Wealth LLC Takes $209,000 Position in Manulife Financial Co. (NYSE:MFC)

SVB Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Manulife Financial Co. (NYSE:MFC) (TSE:MFC) during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 8,374 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $209,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Manulife Financial by 1.0% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 72,289,251 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,806,508,000 after buying an additional 727,764 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of Manulife Financial by 26.5% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 37,066,418 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $823,074,000 after buying an additional 7,766,870 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI grew its holdings in shares of Manulife Financial by 14.8% during the first quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 28,803,968 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $749,435,000 after buying an additional 3,720,693 shares during the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its holdings in Manulife Financial by 57.9% in the first quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 23,307,081 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $582,444,000 after purchasing an additional 8,548,114 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Manulife Financial in the fourth quarter worth approximately $473,568,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 52.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on MFC shares. National Bank Financial upgraded shares of Manulife Financial from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 9th. TD Securities raised their target price on shares of Manulife Financial from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $35.00.

Manulife Financial Trading Up 0.8 %

MFC opened at $26.10 on Wednesday. Manulife Financial Co. has a 1-year low of $17.07 and a 1-year high of $27.51. The company has a market capitalization of $46.57 billion, a PE ratio of 15.17, a PEG ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.09. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $26.18 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $24.57.

Manulife Financial (NYSE:MFC) (TSE:MFC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 8th. The financial services provider reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.66 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $9.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.85 billion. Manulife Financial had a net margin of 9.28% and a return on equity of 16.27%. Equities analysts forecast that Manulife Financial Co. will post 2.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Manulife Financial Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 19th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 22nd were given a dividend of $0.29 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 21st. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.45%. Manulife Financial’s payout ratio is 67.44%.

Manulife Financial Profile

Manulife Financial Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides financial products and services in the United States, Canada, Asia, and internationally. The company operates through Wealth and Asset Management Businesses; Insurance and Annuity Products; and Corporate and Other segments. The Wealth and Asset Management Businesses segment offers investment advice and solutions to retirement, retail, and institutional clients through multiple distribution channels, including agents and brokers affiliated with the company, independent securities brokerage firms and financial advisors pension plan consultants, and banks.