Manulife Financial (NYSE:MFC) Reaches New 1-Year High – Time to Buy?

Manulife Financial Corp (NYSE:MFC) (TSE:MFC)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $40.39 and last traded at $40.0720, with a volume of 567 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $40.03.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MFC has been the topic of several analyst reports. Scotiabank reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Manulife Financial from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a report on Friday, February 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and five have assigned a Buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Manulife Financial currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $51.50.

Manulife Financial Price Performance

The firm’s 50-day moving average is $36.24 and its two-hundred day moving average is $35.92. The company has a market cap of $66.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.94 and a beta of 0.87.

Manulife Financial (NYSE:MFC) (TSE:MFC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The financial services provider reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.04. Manulife Financial had a net margin of 9.18% and a return on equity of 16.43%. The company had revenue of $11.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.32 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.03 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Manulife Financial Corp will post 3.22 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MFC. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Manulife Financial by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 78,317,970 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,843,882,000 after acquiring an additional 1,606,480 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in Manulife Financial by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 38,181,297 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,388,259,000 after acquiring an additional 542,834 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its stake in Manulife Financial by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 28,550,943 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,041,431,000 after acquiring an additional 728,643 shares during the period. Canerector Inc. lifted its stake in Manulife Financial by 4,445.8% in the third quarter. Canerector Inc. now owns 28,184,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $877,932,000 after acquiring an additional 27,564,000 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Manulife Financial in the fourth quarter worth about $777,229,000. Institutional investors own 52.56% of the company’s stock.

Manulife Financial Company Profile

Manulife Financial Corporation is a multinational insurance and financial services company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. Founded in the late 19th century as The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company, Manulife provides a broad range of financial products and services to individual and institutional clients. Its core businesses include life and health insurance, retirement and pension solutions, wealth and asset management, and group benefits.

In wealth and asset management, Manulife operates through Manulife Investment Management and offers mutual funds, segregated funds, institutional asset management, and retirement plan solutions.