Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Brokerages

Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF - Get Free Report) NYSE: SLF has been given an average rating of "Moderate Buy" by the ten brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is C$87.00.

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Cormark upgraded Sun Life Financial from a "hold" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. CIBC cut their target price on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$95.00 to C$94.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. National Bank Financial upgraded shares of Sun Life Financial from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$85.00 to C$87.00 in a report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada set a C$82.00 price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday.

Sun Life Financial Price Performance

Shares of SLF traded down C$0.24 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching C$78.11. The stock had a trading volume of 1,274,135 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,261,888. The company has a current ratio of 92.19, a quick ratio of 84,866.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 26.00. The company has a market capitalization of C$44.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.94. The company's 50-day moving average is C$79.62 and its 200 day moving average is C$81.87. Sun Life Financial has a 12-month low of C$64.38 and a 12-month high of C$88.54.

Sun Life Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st were issued a dividend of $0.84 per share. This represents a $3.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.30%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 26th. Sun Life Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.87%.

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.