Manulife Financial (NYSE:MFC) Sets New 1-Year High – Here’s What Happened

by · The Cerbat Gem

Manulife Financial Corp (NYSE:MFCGet Free Report) (TSE:MFC)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $36.86 and last traded at $36.7760, with a volume of 1449339 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $36.53.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on MFC shares. UBS Group initiated coverage on Manulife Financial in a report on Thursday, October 16th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on Manulife Financial from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 14th. Morgan Stanley set a $51.00 target price on Manulife Financial in a research note on Monday, December 15th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a research note on Friday, November 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b+)” rating on shares of Manulife Financial in a report on Monday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $51.50.

View Our Latest Stock Analysis on MFC

Manulife Financial Stock Up 0.7%

The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $34.10 and its 200 day moving average price is $32.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $61.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.34 and a beta of 0.83.

Manulife Financial (NYSE:MFCGet Free Report) (TSE:MFC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 12th. The financial services provider reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $12.90 billion during the quarter. Manulife Financial had a net margin of 9.81% and a return on equity of 16.11%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.00 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Manulife Financial Corp will post 2.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Manulife Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 19th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 26th were paid a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.8%. This is an increase from Manulife Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 26th. Manulife Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 55.56%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MFC. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. raised its holdings in Manulife Financial by 25.8% in the 2nd quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 46,218 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,477,000 after buying an additional 9,478 shares during the period. Cidel Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Manulife Financial by 2.9% in the second quarter. Cidel Asset Management Inc. now owns 496,570 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $15,845,000 after purchasing an additional 14,088 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Manulife Financial in the second quarter valued at $4,364,000. Value Partners Investments Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Manulife Financial by 16,609.6% in the 2nd quarter. Value Partners Investments Inc. now owns 1,519,407 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $48,490,000 after buying an additional 1,510,314 shares during the period. Finally, CWM LLC lifted its stake in Manulife Financial by 211.8% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 51,378 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,642,000 after acquiring an additional 34,902 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 52.56% of the company’s stock.

About Manulife Financial

(Get Free Report)

Manulife Financial Corporation is a multinational insurance and financial services company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. Founded in the late 19th century as The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company, Manulife provides a broad range of financial products and services to individual and institutional clients. Its core businesses include life and health insurance, retirement and pension solutions, wealth and asset management, and group benefits.

In wealth and asset management, Manulife operates through Manulife Investment Management and offers mutual funds, segregated funds, institutional asset management, and retirement plan solutions.

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