Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) Increases Dividend to $0.84 Per Share

Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) declared a quarterly dividend on Monday, November 4th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 27th will be given a dividend of 0.84 per share by the financial services provider on Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $3.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.34%. This is an increase from Sun Life Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.81.

Sun Life Financial Stock Down 0.2 %

SLF opened at C$77.45 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of C$44.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 53.77, a quick ratio of 84,866.00 and a current ratio of 65.29. The firm’s fifty day moving average is C$76.79 and its 200 day moving average is C$71.50. Sun Life Financial has a fifty-two week low of C$64.38 and a fifty-two week high of C$79.45.

Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 12th. The financial services provider reported C$1.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of C$1.58 by C$0.13. The firm had revenue of C$8.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of C$9.18 billion. Sun Life Financial had a return on equity of 13.65% and a net margin of 9.90%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Sun Life Financial will post 6.9230769 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Senior Officer Linda Dougherty sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$75.30, for a total value of C$150,590.00. In other news, Senior Officer Daniel Fishbein sold 15,999 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$71.40, for a total transaction of C$1,142,323.80. Also, Senior Officer Linda Dougherty sold 2,000 shares of Sun Life Financial stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$75.30, for a total value of C$150,590.00. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SLF has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. TD Securities reduced their price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$73.00 to C$72.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. National Bankshares boosted their price target on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$72.00 to C$73.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Sun Life Financial from C$76.00 to C$78.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Evercore decreased their target price on Sun Life Financial from C$76.00 to C$75.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, Barclays set a C$76.00 price target on Sun Life Financial and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of C$78.82.

Sun Life Financial Company Profile

Sun Life Financial Inc, a financial services company, provides savings, retirement, and pension products worldwide. The company operates in five segments: Asset Management, Canada, U.S., Asia, and Corporate. It offers various insurance products, such as term and permanent life; personal health, which includes prescription drugs, dental, and vision care; critical illness; long-term care; and disability, as well as reinsurance.