Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) Hits New 52-Week High – What’s Next?

Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) shares hit a new 52-week high on Monday . The stock traded as high as C$19.00 and last traded at C$86.69, with a volume of 228974 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at C$87.40.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on SLF shares. National Bankshares decreased their price objective on Sun Life Financial from C$94.00 to C$93.00 in a report on Thursday, November 6th. TD Securities decreased their price target on Sun Life Financial from C$101.00 to C$99.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. CIBC boosted their price target on Sun Life Financial from C$93.00 to C$95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$96.00 to C$98.00 in a report on Monday, November 10th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lowered shares of Sun Life Financial from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Sun Life Financial presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of C$91.56.

Sun Life Financial Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 84,866.00, a current ratio of 92.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 26.00. The stock has a market capitalization of C$48.04 billion, a PE ratio of 16.43, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.77. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of C$83.89 and a 200-day moving average price of C$83.85.

Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The financial services provider reported C$1.86 EPS for the quarter. Sun Life Financial had a return on equity of 15.69% and a net margin of 7.58%.The firm had revenue of C$9.07 billion for the quarter. Research analysts expect that Sun Life Financial Inc. will post 6.9230769 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sun Life Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 31st were issued a dividend of $0.92 per share. This represents a $3.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.2%. This is a boost from Sun Life Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 26th. Sun Life Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 65.15%.

About Sun Life Financial

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. Sun Life generates about a third of its profit from asset-management operations.