Manulife Financial Co. (TSE:MFC) Given Consensus Rating of "Moderate Buy" by Analysts

Manulife Financial Co. (TSE:MFC - Get Free Report) NYSE: MFC has received an average rating of "Moderate Buy" from the eight analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, five have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is C$46.10.

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MFC. Royal Bank of Canada set a C$51.00 price target on Manulife Financial and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on shares of Manulife Financial from C$51.00 to C$46.00 in a research report on Monday. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Manulife Financial from C$49.00 to C$45.00 in a report on Friday, April 11th. TD Securities increased their target price on shares of Manulife Financial from C$48.00 to C$49.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, CIBC boosted their price target on Manulife Financial from C$47.00 to C$48.00 in a research report on Friday, February 21st.

Insider Transactions at Manulife Financial

In other news, Director Kenneth Michael Ross sold 3,219 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of C$44.91, for a total value of C$144,572.68. Also, Director Brooks Tingle sold 3,866 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$43.43, for a total transaction of C$167,882.21. Insiders sold a total of 18,683 shares of company stock worth $816,102 over the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Manulife Financial Trading Up 1.3 %

MFC opened at C$41.85 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of C$42.24 and a 200 day moving average price of C$43.08. Manulife Financial has a 1 year low of C$31.52 and a 1 year high of C$46.42. The stock has a market cap of C$73.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.02, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.06.

Manulife Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 19th were issued a $0.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.21%. This is a positive change from Manulife Financial's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Manulife Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.79%.

Manulife Financial Company Profile

Manulife provides life insurance and wealth management products and services to individuals and group customers in Canada, the United States, and Asia. Manulife is one of Canada's Big Three Life Insurance companies (the other two are Sun Life and Great West Life). As of Dec. 31, 2021, Manulife reported assets under management or administration of about CAD $1.4 trillion.

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