Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) Plans $0.84 Quarterly Dividend

Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 12th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 26th will be given a dividend of 0.84 per share by the financial services provider on Monday, March 31st. This represents a $3.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.97%.

Sun Life Financial Stock Performance

Sun Life Financial stock traded up C$1.13 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting C$84.63. 2,255,422 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,657,811. 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 stock has a market cap of C$48.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.94. Sun Life Financial has a 12-month low of C$64.38 and a 12-month high of C$88.54. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is C$84.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is C$79.33.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SLF has been the topic of a number of research reports. Scotiabank raised their price target on Sun Life Financial from C$85.00 to C$96.00 in a report on Thursday, November 14th. TD Securities lifted their target price on Sun Life Financial from C$81.00 to C$87.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Sun Life Financial from C$90.00 to C$94.00 in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. CIBC lifted their price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$96.00 to C$97.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$78.00 to C$82.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of C$87.70.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Kevin Strain sold 85,943 shares of Sun Life Financial stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was 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 stock was acquired at an average cost of C$84.83 per share, for a total transaction of C$492,014.00. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.