Short Interest in Sun Life Financial Inc. (NYSE:SLF) Declines By 72.1%

Sun Life Financial Inc. (NYSE:SLF) (TSE:SLF) saw a large drop in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,520,000 shares, a drop of 72.1% from the March 15th total of 5,440,000 shares. Currently, 0.3% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 715,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.1 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SLF has been the topic of several research reports. National Bank Financial raised Sun Life Financial from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. StockNews.com cut Sun Life Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Cormark upgraded shares of Sun Life Financial from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Sun Life Financial presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy”.

Sun Life Financial Price Performance

Shares of SLF stock traded down $0.01 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $56.53. The company had a trading volume of 292,506 shares, compared to its average volume of 681,990. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $55.94 and a 200-day simple moving average of $57.85. The company has a market cap of $32.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.87. Sun Life Financial has a 12 month low of $46.41 and a 12 month high of $62.85.

Sun Life Financial (NYSE:SLF) (TSE:SLF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $1.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.30. Sun Life Financial had a return on equity of 16.86% and a net margin of 8.08%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Sun Life Financial will post 5.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Sun Life Financial Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 26th were paid a $0.5876 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 26th. This represents a $2.35 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.16%. Sun Life Financial’s payout ratio is presently 60.16%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Sun Life Financial by 1.2% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,841,712 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $164,876,000 after buying an additional 34,072 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Sun Life Financial by 34.0% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 23,633 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,403,000 after buying an additional 6,000 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its stake in shares of Sun Life Financial by 10.8% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 7,192,059 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $427,712,000 after acquiring an additional 703,391 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Sun Life Financial during the 3rd quarter valued at $878,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Sun Life Financial by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,596,439 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $94,743,000 after acquiring an additional 15,908 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 52.26% of the company’s stock.

Sun Life Financial Company Profile

Sun Life Financial Inc, a financial services company, provides savings, retirement, and pension products worldwide. The company operates in five segments: Asset Management, Canada, U.S., Asia, and Corporate. It offers various insurance products, such as term and permanent life; personal health, which includes prescription drugs, dental, and vision care; critical illness; long-term care; and disability, as well as reinsurance.