Manulife Financial (NYSE:MFC) Stock Price Breaks Below 50 Day Moving Average – What’s Next?

Manulife Financial Corp (NYSE:MFC) (TSE:MFC) passed below its 50-day moving average during trading on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $43.75 and traded as low as $42.85. Manulife Financial shares last traded at $43.19, with a volume of 1,851,374 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on MFC. Zacks Research raised Manulife Financial from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Scotiabank downgraded Manulife Financial from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 27th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Manulife Financial from a “buy (a)” rating to a “buy (a+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 8th. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on Manulife Financial from $55.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Manulife Financial has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $58.75.

Manulife Financial Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $71.45 billion, a PE ratio of 17.07 and a beta of 0.86. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $43.75 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $40.15.

Manulife Financial (NYSE:MFC) (TSE:MFC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 4th. The financial services provider reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $8.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.67 billion. Manulife Financial had a return on equity of 16.68% and a net margin of 9.99%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.16 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Manulife Financial Corp will post 3.00 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Manulife Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 20th will be issued a dividend of C$0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 20th. This represents a $1.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.5%. Manulife Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 51.49%.

Institutional Trading of Manulife Financial

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MFC. BCV Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Manulife Financial by 1.0% during the third quarter. BCV Asset Management Inc. now owns 107,669 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,618,000 after buying an additional 1,063 shares in the last quarter. Financial Freedom LLC acquired a new position in shares of Manulife Financial in the third quarter valued at about $68,000. Allworth Financial LP raised its stake in Manulife Financial by 3.4% during the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 12,923 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $524,000 after purchasing an additional 422 shares during the period. Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc. increased its position in shares of Manulife Financial by 0.3% during the third quarter. Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc. now owns 5,963,707 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $254,720,000 after purchasing an additional 17,850 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CENTRAL TRUST Co increased its position in Manulife Financial by 27.1% during the third quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 2,451 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $104,000 after buying an additional 523 shares in the last quarter. 52.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Manulife Financial