Manulife Financial Corp (NYSE:MFC) Announces Quarterly Dividend of C$0.49

Manulife Financial Corp (NYSE:MFC) (TSE:MFC) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, May 13th. Investors of record on Friday, May 29th will be paid a dividend of 0.485 per share by the financial services provider on Friday, June 19th. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a yield of 4.9%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 29th.

Manulife Financial has increased its dividend payment by an average of 0.1%per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 12 years. Manulife Financial has a payout ratio of 44.7% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Manulife Financial to earn $3.55 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.42 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 40.0%.

Manulife Financial Price Performance

MFC opened at $39.84 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $66.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.95 and a beta of 0.87. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $36.34 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $35.98. Manulife Financial has a fifty-two week low of $29.70 and a fifty-two week high of $40.41.

Manulife Financial (NYSE:MFC) (TSE:MFC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The financial services provider reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $11.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.32 billion. Manulife Financial had a net margin of 9.18% and a return on equity of 16.43%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.03 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Manulife Financial will post 3.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MFC. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Manulife Financial from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Scotiabank reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a research note on Friday, February 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and five have given a Buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $51.50.

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.