American Century Companies Inc. Has $9.99 Million Holdings in Sun Life Financial Inc. (NYSE:SLF)

American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Sun Life Financial Inc. (NYSE:SLF) (TSE:SLF) by 12.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 168,299 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,079 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in Sun Life Financial were worth $9,993,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Sun Life Financial by 1.2% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,841,712 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $164,876,000 after purchasing an additional 34,072 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Sun Life Financial by 34.0% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 23,633 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,403,000 after acquiring an additional 6,000 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its position in shares of Sun Life Financial by 10.8% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 7,192,059 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $427,712,000 after acquiring an additional 703,391 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Sun Life Financial during the third quarter valued at $878,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Sun Life Financial by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,596,439 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $94,743,000 after acquiring an additional 15,908 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 52.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on SLF. National Bank Financial raised Sun Life Financial from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Cormark raised shares of Sun Life Financial from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Sun Life Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Sun Life Financial presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy”.

Sun Life Financial Price Performance

Sun Life Financial stock opened at $58.75 on Thursday. Sun Life Financial Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $46.41 and a fifty-two week high of $62.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $33.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.30, a PEG ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.04. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $56.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $58.01.

Sun Life Financial (NYSE:SLF) (TSE:SLF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $1.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.30. Sun Life Financial had a return on equity of 16.86% and a net margin of 8.08%. As a group, analysts predict that Sun Life Financial Inc. will post 5.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sun Life Financial Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th were issued a dividend of $0.5876 per share. This represents a $2.35 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.00%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 26th. Sun Life Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 60.16%.

Sun Life Financial Company Profile

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.