Definity Financial Co. (TSE:DFY) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Definity Financial Co. (TSE:DFY) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eight research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is C$47.30.

Several research firms have commented on DFY. CIBC raised their target price on shares of Definity Financial from C$46.00 to C$47.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. National Bankshares raised their target price on shares of Definity Financial from C$57.00 to C$59.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Desjardins raised their target price on shares of Definity Financial from C$44.00 to C$45.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. Cormark lifted their price target on shares of Definity Financial from C$42.00 to C$43.00 in a report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, TD Securities lifted their price target on shares of Definity Financial from C$45.00 to C$49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th.

Definity Financial Price Performance

Shares of Definity Financial stock opened at C$44.39 on Friday. Definity Financial has a twelve month low of C$32.09 and a twelve month high of C$47.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 4.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.99. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of C$44.00 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of C$39.90. The stock has a market capitalization of C$5.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.08.

Definity Financial (TSE:DFY) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The company reported C$0.86 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of C$0.74 by C$0.12. Definity Financial had a net margin of 9.06% and a return on equity of 12.52%. The firm had revenue of C$1 billion for the quarter. Analysts forecast that Definity Financial will post 2.7913715 EPS for the current year.

Definity Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.16 per share. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.44%. This is a positive change from Definity Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.14. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Definity Financial’s payout ratio is presently 21.33%.

About Definity Financial

Definity Financial Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, offers property and casualty insurance products in Canada. It provides personal insurance products, including auto, property, general and umbrella liability, and pet insurance products to individuals under the Economical, Sonnet, Family, Petsecure, and Peppermint brands; and commercial insurance products, which include fleet, commercial auto, property, liability, and specialty insurance products to businesses under the Definity Insurance and Economical brand name.