Kevin Strain Sells 85,943 Shares of Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) Stock

Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) Director Kevin Strain sold 85,943 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$84.71, for a total value of C$7,280,231.53.

Sun Life Financial Price Performance

Sun Life Financial stock traded down C$1.07 during midday trading on Friday, reaching C$84.88. 2,657,183 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,019,266. The company’s fifty day moving average is C$78.34 and its 200-day moving average is C$72.22. The firm has a market cap of C$48.93 billion, a PE ratio of 16.08, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.94. Sun Life Financial Inc. has a 52 week low of C$64.38 and a 52 week high of C$86.39. 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.

Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 12th. The financial services provider reported C$1.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of C$1.58 by C$0.13. The business had revenue of C$8.92 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of C$9.18 billion. Sun Life Financial had a net margin of 9.90% and a return on equity of 13.65%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Sun Life Financial Inc. will post 6.9230769 EPS for the current year.

Sun Life Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 27th will be issued a $0.84 dividend. This represents a $3.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.96%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 27th. This is an increase from Sun Life Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.81. Sun Life Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 61.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on SLF shares. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Sun Life Financial from C$78.00 to C$82.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$90.00 to C$94.00 in a research note on Thursday. National Bankshares upped their price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$72.00 to C$73.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Cormark increased their price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$82.00 to C$85.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, 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. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of C$84.18.

Sun Life Financial Company Profile

Sun Life Financial Inc, a financial services company, provides savings, retirement, and pension products worldwide. The company operates in five segments: Asset Management, Canada, U.S., Asia, and Corporate. It offers various insurance products, such as term and permanent life; personal health, which includes prescription drugs, dental, and vision care; critical illness; long-term care; and disability, as well as reinsurance.