Manulife Financial Corp. (MFC:CA)
Analyst Update
TD Securities lowered its 12-month target price slightly to C$59.00 from C$60.00, while maintaining a Buy rating. The modest trim suggests incremental adjustments to earnings assumptions, potentially reflecting market volatility, currency impacts, and normalization in insurance margins, rather than a fundamental shift in outlook. TD’s continued Buy recommendation indicates confidence in Manulife’s capital strength, diversified geographic exposure (notably in Asia), and its ability to generate organic growth through insurance sales and wealth & asset management inflows. Analysts continues to view Manulife’s return on equity trajectory and capital deployment capacity (dividends and buybacks) as supportive of upside from current levels.
Scotiabank maintainsed their Sector Perform rating on the stock, with a 12 month target price of C$55.00, which implies a view that Manulife is fairly valued relative to Canadian life insurance peers. While Scotiabank likely acknowledges the company’s improving Asia momentum, strong LICAT capital ratio, and disciplined expense management, it may be adopting a more neutral stance due to macro sensitivities, such as interest rate volatility, equity market exposure within segregated funds, and potential insurance reserve variability.
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