Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) Stock Price Passes Above 200 Day Moving Average – Here’s Why

Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) crossed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Thursday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of C$77.77 and traded as high as C$85.04. Sun Life Financial shares last traded at C$84.67, with a volume of 1,072,796 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SLF has been the subject of a number of research reports. CIBC increased their price objective on Sun Life Financial from C$90.00 to C$96.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$85.00 to C$96.00 in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$82.00 to C$87.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. TD Securities raised their target price on shares of 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. Finally, National Bank Financial upgraded Sun Life Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of C$86.64.

Sun Life Financial Trading Up 0.7 %

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 has a market cap of C$48.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.94. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of C$85.25 and a 200 day simple moving average of C$77.77.

Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) last posted its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The financial services provider reported C$1.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of C$1.71 by C$0.05. Sun Life Financial had a net margin of 9.90% and a return on equity of 13.65%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.59 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Sun Life Financial Inc. will post 6.9230769 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sun Life Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 27th were issued a $0.84 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 27th. This represents a $3.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.97%. This is a boost from Sun Life Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.81. Sun Life Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 61.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sun Life Financial

In other news, Director Kevin Strain sold 85,943 shares of the 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 value of C$7,280,231.53. Also, Senior Officer Linda Dougherty acquired 5,800 shares of the company’s 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. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.