Manulife Financial (TSE:MFC) Upgraded at CIBC

CIBC upgraded shares of Manulife Financial (TSE:MFC) (NYSE:MFC) from a neutral rating to an outperform rating in a research report released on Thursday,BayStreet.CA reports. They currently have C$58.00 price objective on the financial services provider’s stock, up from their prior price objective of C$50.00.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on MFC. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on shares of Manulife Financial from C$49.00 to C$52.00 in a research note on Friday, November 14th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Manulife Financial to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Desjardins set a C$55.00 target price on shares of Manulife Financial and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. TD Securities lifted their target price on Manulife Financial from C$54.00 to C$57.00 in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. Finally, National Bankshares boosted their price target on Manulife Financial from C$47.00 to C$52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of C$52.75.

Manulife Financial Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of TSE:MFC opened at C$52.00 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of C$87.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.67, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.01. The business has a 50 day moving average price of C$49.02 and a 200 day moving average price of C$45.18. Manulife Financial has a twelve month low of C$36.93 and a twelve month high of C$52.25.

Manulife Financial (TSE:MFC) (NYSE:MFC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 12th. The financial services provider reported C$1.16 EPS for the quarter. Manulife Financial had a return on equity of 11.75% and a net margin of 12.52%.The company had revenue of C$26.23 billion for the quarter. Analysts anticipate that Manulife Financial will post 3.6104452 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Manulife Financial news, insider Shamus Edward Weiland sold 88,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$48.95, for a total value of C$4,332,075.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 53,495 shares in the company, valued at C$2,618,580.25. This represents a 62.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Also, insider Rahim Hirji sold 25,048 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of C$48.25, for a total value of C$1,208,566.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 31,315 shares of the company’s stock, valued at C$1,510,948.75. This represents a 44.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

About Manulife Financial

Manulife provides life insurance and wealth management products and services to individuals and group customers in Canada, the United States, and Asia. Manulife is one of Canada’s Big Three Life Insurance companies (the other two are Sun Life and Great West Life). As of Dec. 31, 2021, Manulife reported assets under management or administration of about CAD $1.4 trillion.