Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. Has $542,000 Stock Position in Manulife Financial Corp $MFC

Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. lowered its stake in Manulife Financial Corp (NYSE:MFC) (TSE:MFC) by 97.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 14,468 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 614,311 shares during the quarter. Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Manulife Financial were worth $542,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Manulife Financial by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 78,317,970 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,843,882,000 after acquiring an additional 1,606,480 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc increased its position in Manulife Financial by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 38,181,297 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,388,259,000 after buying an additional 542,834 shares during the last quarter. Canerector Inc. increased its position in Manulife Financial by 4,445.8% during the third quarter. Canerector Inc. now owns 28,184,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $877,932,000 after buying an additional 27,564,000 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its position in Manulife Financial by 25.6% during the third quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 27,822,300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $866,649,000 after buying an additional 5,671,639 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Manulife Financial during the fourth quarter worth approximately $777,229,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 52.56% of the company’s stock.

Manulife Financial Stock Performance

Shares of MFC stock opened at $40.25 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $38.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $36.76. The company has a market cap of $67.16 billion, a PE ratio of 15.97 and a beta of 0.84. Manulife Financial Corp has a fifty-two week low of $29.70 and a fifty-two week high of $40.47.

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

Manulife Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 19th. Investors of record on Friday, May 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.485 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 29th. This represents a $1.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.8%. Manulife Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 56.35%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on MFC. TD Securities reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Weiss Ratings raised Manulife Financial from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Finally, Scotiabank reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and five have given a Buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $51.50.

About Manulife Financial

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.