Analysts Set Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) Target Price at C$86.73

Shares of Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) have earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is C$86.73.

A number of analysts have recently commented on SLF shares. Barclays boosted their price objective on Sun Life Financial from C$82.00 to C$87.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$78.00 to C$82.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Cormark upped their price target on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$82.00 to C$85.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. National Bankshares raised shares of Sun Life Financial from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from C$82.00 to C$95.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$85.00 to C$96.00 in a research note on Thursday, November 14th.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Kevin Strain sold 85,943 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$84.71, for a total transaction of C$7,280,231.53. Also, Senior Officer Linda Dougherty acquired 5,800 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were bought at an average cost of C$84.83 per share, for a total transaction of C$492,014.00. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Sun Life Financial Price Performance

Shares of TSE:SLF opened at C$84.58 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of C$48.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.02, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 53.77, a current ratio of 65.29 and a quick ratio of 84,866.00. Sun Life Financial has a 12 month low of C$64.38 and a 12 month high of C$88.54. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is C$84.91 and its 200 day moving average price is C$79.00.

Sun Life Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 27th were paid a dividend of $0.84 per share. This is an increase from Sun Life Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.81. This represents a $3.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.97%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 27th. Sun Life Financial’s payout ratio is 61.36%.

About Sun Life Financial

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.