Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) Trading Down 8.9% on Analyst Downgrade

Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) was down 8.9% during trading on Thursday after CIBC lowered their price target on the stock from C$97.00 to C$95.00. The company traded as low as C$76.70 and last traded at C$77.12. Approximately 927,602 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 43% from the average daily volume of 1,613,666 shares. The stock had previously closed at C$84.63.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on SLF. Barclays increased their price target on Sun Life Financial from C$82.00 to C$87.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$90.00 to C$94.00 in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. TD Securities upped their price target 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. National Bankshares reduced their price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$95.00 to C$93.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Finally, National Bank Financial raised shares of Sun Life Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Sun Life Financial presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of C$87.10.

Sun Life Financial Stock Down 0.3 %

The stock has a market cap of C$44.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.80, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.94. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is C$84.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is C$79.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 26.00, a current ratio of 92.19 and a quick ratio of 84,866.00.

Sun Life Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 26th will be given a dividend of $0.84 per share. This represents a $3.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.30%. Sun Life Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.87%.

Sun Life Financial Company Profile

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.