Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) Hits New 1-Year High – Should You Buy?

Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) shares hit a new 52-week high on Thursday . The company traded as high as C$93.77 and last traded at C$92.85, with a volume of 1787579 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at C$88.07.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on SLF shares. National Bank Financial lowered their target price on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$94.00 to C$93.00 in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. Desjardins set a C$94.00 price objective on Sun Life Financial and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce increased their price objective on Sun Life Financial from C$93.00 to C$95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Barclays lowered their price target on Sun Life Financial from C$84.00 to C$83.00 in a report on Friday, January 9th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$99.00 to C$95.00 in a report on Monday, November 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Sun Life Financial currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of C$93.00.

Sun Life Financial Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of C$51.86 billion, a PE ratio of 17.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.73. The stock has a fifty day moving average of C$85.77 and a 200-day moving average of C$83.96. 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.

Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The financial services provider reported C$1.96 earnings per share for the quarter. Sun Life Financial had a return on equity of 15.69% and a net margin of 7.58%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Sun Life Financial Inc. will post 6.9230769 EPS for the current year.

Sun Life Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 31st were given a $0.92 dividend. This is a positive change from Sun Life Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 26th. This represents a $3.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.9%. Sun Life Financial’s payout ratio is 65.15%.

Sun Life Financial Company Profile

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.