Quantbot Technologies LP Makes New $4 Million Investment in Manulife Financial Corp $MFC

Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new stake in Manulife Financial Corp (NYSE:MFC) (TSE:MFC) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 98,622 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,995,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Manulife Financial by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 78,317,970 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,843,882,000 after purchasing an additional 1,606,480 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its position in Manulife Financial by 1.4% in 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 purchasing an additional 542,834 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its stake in Manulife Financial by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 28,550,943 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,041,431,000 after buying an additional 728,643 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Manulife Financial in the 4th quarter valued at $777,229,000. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Manulife Financial by 14.6% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 16,885,459 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $616,479,000 after buying an additional 2,145,099 shares in the last quarter. 52.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MFC. Zacks Research lowered shares of Manulife Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Scotiabank reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a research note on Friday, August 7th. TD Securities reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Weiss Ratings raised Manulife Financial from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (a)” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on Manulife Financial from $55.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Manulife Financial has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $59.00.

Manulife Financial Stock Performance

Manulife Financial stock opened at $42.54 on Monday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $42.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $38.90. The firm has a market cap of $70.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.87 and a beta of 0.84. Manulife Financial Corp has a 52 week low of $29.77 and a 52 week high of $45.33.

Manulife Financial (NYSE:MFC) (TSE:MFC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The financial services provider reported $0.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.28 billion. Manulife Financial had a return on equity of 16.68% and a net margin of 9.99%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.95 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Manulife Financial Corp will post 3.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Manulife Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.485 per share. This represents a $1.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 21st. Manulife Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 51.49%.

Manulife Financial 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.