Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) Receives C$86.73 Consensus Price Target from Analysts

Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven analysts that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eight have given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is C$86.73.

SLF has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. CIBC upped their target price on Sun Life Financial from C$96.00 to C$97.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Cormark upped their price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$82.00 to C$85.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. National Bank Financial upgraded shares of Sun Life Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. TD Securities upped their price target on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$81.00 to C$87.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Sun Life Financial from C$90.00 to C$94.00 in a research note on Thursday, November 14th.

Insider Activity

In other Sun Life Financial news, Senior Officer Linda Dougherty bought 5,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of C$84.83 per share, for a total transaction of C$492,014.00. Also, Director Kevin Strain sold 85,943 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$84.71, for a total transaction of C$7,280,231.53. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Sun Life Financial Price Performance

Shares of SLF opened at C$84.58 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 53.77, a quick ratio of 84,866.00 and a current ratio of 65.29. The firm has a market cap of C$48.76 billion, a PE ratio of 16.02, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.94. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is C$84.91 and its 200 day moving average price is C$79.00. Sun Life Financial has a twelve month low of C$64.38 and a twelve month high of C$88.54.

Sun Life Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 27th were issued a dividend of $0.84 per share. This represents a $3.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 27th. This is a positive change from Sun Life Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.81. Sun Life Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 61.36%.

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.