Vanguard Group Inc. Sells 72,899 Shares of Sun Life Financial Inc. $SLF

Vanguard Group Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Sun Life Financial Inc. (NYSE:SLF) (TSE:SLF) by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 25,349,312 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 72,899 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 4.54% of Sun Life Financial worth $1,522,201,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bank of Nova Scotia raised its stake in shares of Sun Life Financial by 6.5% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 6,157,205 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $409,576,000 after purchasing an additional 377,204 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Sun Life Financial during the second quarter worth $362,886,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Sun Life Financial by 19.4% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,625,675 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $312,065,000 after acquiring an additional 750,768 shares in the last quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. lifted its stake in Sun Life Financial by 0.9% in the second quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. now owns 3,107,058 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $205,540,000 after acquiring an additional 26,599 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Sun Life Financial by 9.8% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,733,974 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $164,120,000 after acquiring an additional 243,323 shares during the last quarter. 52.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Sun Life Financial in a report on Friday, February 13th. National Bank Financial reissued a “sector perform” rating on shares of Sun Life Financial in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Barclays reaffirmed an “underweight” rating on shares of Sun Life Financial in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Sun Life Financial in a report on Thursday. Finally, Scotiabank reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating on shares of Sun Life Financial in a report on Thursday, February 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Sun Life Financial presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $86.50.

Sun Life Financial Trading Up 1.6%

Sun Life Financial stock opened at $66.36 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $36.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.08 and a beta of 0.88. Sun Life Financial Inc. has a 12 month low of $52.44 and a 12 month high of $69.67. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $63.59 and its 200-day moving average is $60.91.

Sun Life Financial (NYSE:SLF) (TSE:SLF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The financial services provider reported $1.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $973.53 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $973.53 million. Sun Life Financial had a return on equity of 17.76% and a net margin of 8.48%.During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.68 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Sun Life Financial Inc. will post 5.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sun Life Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 25th will be given a dividend of $0.92 per share. This represents a $3.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 25th. Sun Life Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 60.91%.

Sun Life Financial Company Profile

Sun Life Financial Inc, founded in 1865 and headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, is an international financial services organization that provides a range of insurance, wealth management and asset management solutions. The company serves individual and institutional clients, offering products designed to protect against life and health risks, help clients save for retirement, and manage investments on behalf of customers and third parties.

Core business activities include life and health insurance, group benefits for employers, retirement and pension products, and wealth management services such as mutual funds and segregated fund solutions.