Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the ten brokerages that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is C$87.00.

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. National Bank Financial upgraded shares of Sun Life Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Cormark raised shares of Sun Life Financial from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$98.00 to C$94.00 in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Royal Bank of Canada set a C$82.00 target price on Sun Life Financial and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, CIBC lowered their price target on Sun Life Financial from C$95.00 to C$94.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th.

Sun Life Financial Stock Performance

TSE SLF opened at C$81.77 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is C$81.35 and its 200 day moving average price is C$81.57. The company has a current ratio of 92.19, a quick ratio of 84,866.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 26.00. Sun Life Financial has a twelve month low of C$64.38 and a twelve month high of C$88.54. The company has a market capitalization of C$46.71 billion, a PE ratio of 12.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.94.

Sun Life Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a $0.84 dividend. This represents a $3.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 26th. Sun Life Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.87%.

Sun Life Financial Company Profile

Sun Life Financial is one of Canada’s Big Three life insurance companies along with Great-West Lifeco and Manulife. Sun Life provides insurance, retirement, and wealth-management services to individual and corporate customers in Canada, the United States, and Asia. It also owns MFS Investment Management, a Boston-based asset-management firm.