Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at National Bank Financial

National Bank Financial upgraded shares of Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note released on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports. National Bank Financial also issued estimates for Sun Life Financial’s Q4 2024 earnings at $1.82 EPS, FY2024 earnings at $6.77 EPS, FY2025 earnings at $7.58 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $8.36 EPS.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$82.00 to C$87.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. National Bankshares raised shares of Sun Life Financial from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from C$82.00 to C$95.00 in a report on Wednesday. TD Securities upped their price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$81.00 to C$87.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$85.00 to C$96.00 in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Sun Life Financial from C$78.00 to C$82.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of C$86.64.

Sun Life Financial Price Performance

Shares of TSE:SLF opened at C$84.41 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day moving average is C$84.96 and its 200 day moving average is C$77.03. 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 company has a market capitalization of C$48.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.94. Sun Life Financial has a fifty-two week low of C$64.38 and a fifty-two week high of C$88.54.

Sun Life Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 27th were paid a dividend of $0.84 per share. This represents a $3.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 27th. This is a positive change from Sun Life Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.81. Sun Life Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 61.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Sun Life Financial news, Director Kevin Strain sold 85,943 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$84.71, for a total transaction of C$7,280,231.53. Also, Senior Officer Linda Dougherty purchased 5,800 shares of Sun Life Financial stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were bought at an average price of C$84.83 per share, with a total value of C$492,014.00. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.