Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) Price Target Raised to C$97.00 at CIBC

Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) had its target price boosted by CIBC from C$96.00 to C$97.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning,BayStreet.CA reports.

Several other research analysts have also issued reports on SLF. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$85.00 to C$96.00 in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$78.00 to C$82.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Sun Life Financial from C$90.00 to C$94.00 in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. National Bankshares upgraded Sun Life Financial from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from C$82.00 to C$95.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, TD Securities lifted their price objective on Sun Life Financial from C$81.00 to C$87.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Sun Life Financial currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of C$86.73.

Sun Life Financial Price Performance

SLF stock opened at C$83.54 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of C$85.20 and a 200 day moving average of C$78.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 53.77, a current ratio of 65.29 and a quick ratio of 84,866.00. The company has a market cap of C$48.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.82, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.94. Sun Life Financial has a 1 year low of C$64.38 and a 1 year high of C$88.54.

Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) last released its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The financial services provider reported C$1.76 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of C$1.71 by C$0.05. Sun Life Financial had a return on equity of 13.65% and a net margin of 9.90%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.59 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Sun Life Financial will post 6.9230769 EPS for the current year.

Sun Life Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 27th were given a $0.84 dividend. This is a positive change from Sun Life Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.81. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 27th. This represents a $3.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.02%. Sun Life Financial’s payout ratio is 61.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sun Life Financial

In related news, Director Kevin Strain sold 85,943 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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. Also, Senior Officer Linda Dougherty bought 5,800 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of C$84.83 per share, for a total transaction of C$492,014.00. 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.