Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) Announces Dividend Increase – $0.81 Per Share

Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, May 9th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 29th will be paid a dividend of 0.81 per share by the financial services provider on Friday, June 28th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.41%. This is an increase from Sun Life Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.78.

Sun Life Financial Stock Performance

SLF stock opened at C$73.43 on Friday. Sun Life Financial has a 1 year low of C$61.84 and a 1 year high of C$74.94. The stock has a market capitalization of C$42.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.96, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 78.47, a quick ratio of 84,866.00 and a current ratio of 6.81. The stock’s fifty day moving average is C$72.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is C$69.93.

Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The financial services provider reported C$1.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of C$1.59 by C$0.09. Sun Life Financial had a net margin of 10.26% and a return on equity of 13.98%. The firm had revenue of C$18.68 billion during the quarter. On average, research analysts predict that Sun Life Financial will post 6.9056785 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sun Life Financial

In related news, Senior Officer Daniel Fishbein sold 16,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$74.45, for a total transaction of C$1,191,120.00. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. Evercore raised their price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$76.00 to C$78.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 23rd. Desjardins lifted their price target on Sun Life Financial from C$75.00 to C$77.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$82.00 to C$83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. CIBC boosted their price target on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$77.00 to C$80.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$76.00 to C$77.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of C$77.18.

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.