230,917 Shares in Manulife Financial Corp $MFC Purchased by Purpose Unlimited Inc.

Purpose Unlimited Inc. acquired a new stake in Manulife Financial Corp (NYSE:MFC) (TSE:MFC) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 230,917 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $8,386,000.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Manulife Financial by 2.1% during 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 buying an additional 1,606,480 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Manulife Financial by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 38,181,297 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,388,259,000 after acquiring an additional 542,834 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its stake in shares of Manulife Financial by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 28,550,943 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,041,431,000 after acquiring an additional 728,643 shares during the period. Canerector Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Manulife Financial by 4,445.8% in the 3rd 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 last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Manulife Financial in the 4th quarter worth approximately $777,229,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 52.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on MFC shares. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Manulife Financial from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a report on Thursday, May 28th. TD Securities restated a “buy” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. Finally, Scotiabank restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and five have assigned a Buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Manulife Financial has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $51.50.

Manulife Financial Price Performance

NYSE MFC opened at $40.66 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $67.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.13 and a beta of 0.84. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $38.85 and a two-hundred day moving average of $36.96. Manulife Financial Corp has a 1-year low of $29.70 and a 1-year high of $41.43.

Manulife Financial (NYSE:MFC) (TSE:MFC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 13th. The financial services provider reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.79 by ($0.02). Manulife Financial had a return on equity of 16.58% and a net margin of 10.19%.The business had revenue of $8.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.32 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.99 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Manulife Financial Corp will post 3.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Manulife Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 19th. Investors of record on Friday, May 29th were paid a dividend of $0.485 per share. This represents a $1.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 29th. Manulife Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 56.75%.

Manulife Financial 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.