BNP Paribas Acquires Shares of 13,505 Manulife Financial Corp $MFC

BNP Paribas acquired a new stake in Manulife Financial Corp (NYSE:MFC) (TSE:MFC) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 13,505 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $492,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Basepoint Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Manulife Financial during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of Manulife Financial during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Blueline Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Manulife Financial during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC raised its holdings in shares of Manulife Financial by 269.2% during the fourth quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 960 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 700 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Manulife Financial during the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Institutional investors own 52.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on MFC. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a report on Friday, February 13th. TD Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. Scotiabank reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Manulife Financial from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and five have issued a Buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $51.50.

Manulife Financial Trading Up 2.0%

NYSE MFC opened at $38.44 on Wednesday. Manulife Financial Corp has a 12 month low of $29.70 and a 12 month high of $40.40. The stock has a market cap of $64.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.25 and a beta of 0.84. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $37.46 and its 200-day moving average price is $36.47.

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

Manulife Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 29th will be paid a $0.485 dividend. This represents a $1.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 29th. Manulife Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 56.75%.

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.