Scotiabank Issues Positive Forecast for Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) Stock Price

Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) had its price target upped by Scotiabank from C$85.00 to C$96.00 in a report released on Thursday morning,BayStreet.CA reports.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on SLF. TD Securities increased their target price on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$81.00 to C$87.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. National Bankshares raised their price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$72.00 to C$73.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Cormark lifted their target price on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$82.00 to C$85.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Sun Life Financial from C$78.00 to C$82.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Sun Life Financial from C$81.00 to C$89.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of C$84.18.

Sun Life Financial Stock Performance

Shares of TSE:SLF opened at C$84.88 on Thursday. 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. The business’s fifty day moving average price is C$78.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is C$72.32. Sun Life Financial has a fifty-two week low of C$64.38 and a fifty-two week high of C$86.39. The stock has a market capitalization of C$48.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.94.

Sun Life Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a $0.84 dividend. This represents a $3.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.96%. This is a positive change from Sun Life Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.81. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 27th. Sun Life Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 61.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sun Life Financial

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

About Sun Life Financial

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.