How to buy Manulife Financial Corporation stock

Manulife Financial Corporation is an insurance—life business based in the US. Manulife Financial Corporation shares (MFC) are listed on the NYSE and all prices are listed in US Dollars. Manulife Financial Corporation employs 35,000 staff and has a market cap (total outstanding shares value) of USD$31.8 billion.

How to buy shares in Manulife Financial Corporation

1. Compare share trading platforms. If you're a beginner, look for a platform with low commissions, expert ratings and investment tools to track your portfolio. Narrow down top brands with our comparison table.
2. Open and fund your brokerage account. Complete an application with your personal and financial details, like your ID and bank information. Fund your account with a bank transfer, credit card or debit card.
3. Search for Manulife Financial Corporation. Find the stock by name or ticker symbol: MFC. Research its history to confirm it's a solid investment against your financial goals.
4. Purchase now or later. Buy today with a market order or use a limit order to delay your purchase until Manulife Financial Corporation reaches your desired price. To spread out your purchase, look into dollar-cost averaging, which smooths out buying at consistent intervals and amounts.
5. Decide on how many to buy. Weigh your budget against a diversified portfolio that can minimize risk through the market's ups and downs. You may be able to buy a fractional share of Manulife Financial Corporation, depending on your broker.
6. Check in on your investment. Congratulations, you own a part of Manulife Financial Corporation. Optimize your portfolio by tracking how your stock — and even the business — performs with an eye on the long term. You may be eligible for dividends and shareholder voting rights on directors and management that can affect your stock.

Manulife Financial Corporation share price

Use our graph to track the performance of MFC stocks over time.

Manulife Financial Corporation shares at a glance

• Key figures

Information last updated 2020-11-20.

52-week range	USD$8.244 - USD$20.0846
50-day moving average	USD$14.7539
200-day moving average	USD$14.0202
Wall St. target price	USD$23.61
PE ratio	7.7937
Dividend yield	USD$0.86 (5.16%)
Earnings per share (TTM)	USD$0.919

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Is it a good time to buy Manulife Financial Corporation stock?

The technical analysis gauge below displays real-time ratings for the timeframes you select. This is not a recommendation, however. It represents a technical analysis based on the most popular technical indicators: Moving Averages, Oscillators and Pivots. Finder might not concur and takes no responsibility.

Technical Analysis of Manulife Financial Corporation by TradingView

This chart is not advice or a guarantee of success. Rather, it gauges the real-time recommendations of three popular technical indicators: moving averages, oscillators and pivots. Finder is not responsible for how your stock performs.

Is Manulife Financial Corporation under- or over-valued?

Valuing Manulife Financial Corporation stock is incredibly difficult, and any metric has to be viewed as part of a bigger picture of Manulife Financial Corporation's overall performance. However, analysts commonly use some key metrics to help gauge the value of a stock.

Manulife Financial Corporation's P/E ratio

Manulife Financial Corporation's current share price divided by its per-share earnings (EPS) over a 12-month period gives a "trailing price/earnings ratio" of roughly 8x. In other words, Manulife Financial Corporation shares trade at around 8x recent earnings.

That's relatively low compared to, say, the trailing 12-month P/E ratio for the NASDAQ 100 at the end of 2019 (27.29). The low P/E ratio could mean that investors are pessimistic about the outlook for the shares or simply that they're under-valued.

Manulife Financial Corporation's PEG ratio

Manulife Financial Corporation's "price/earnings-to-growth ratio" can be calculated by dividing its P/E ratio by its growth – to give 1.84. A low ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer better value, while a higher ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer worse value.

The PEG ratio provides a broader view than just the P/E ratio, as it gives more insight into Manulife Financial Corporation's future profitability. By accounting for growth, it could also help you if you're comparing the share prices of multiple high-growth companies.

Manulife Financial Corporation financials

Gross profit TTM	USD$14.3 billion
Return on assets TTM	0.53%
Return on equity TTM	9.31%
Profit margin	6.55%
Book value	$15.355
Market capitalisation	USD$31.8 billion

TTM: trailing 12 months

Shorting Manulife Financial Corporation shares

There are currently 7.5 million Manulife Financial Corporation shares held short by investors – that's known as Manulife Financial Corporation's "short interest". This figure is 1% up from 7.4 million last month.

There are a few different ways that this level of interest in shorting Manulife Financial Corporation shares can be evaluated.

Manulife Financial Corporation's "short interest ratio" (SIR)

Manulife Financial Corporation's "short interest ratio" (SIR) is the quantity of Manulife Financial Corporation shares currently shorted divided by the average quantity of Manulife Financial Corporation shares traded daily (recently around 2.0 million). Manulife Financial Corporation's SIR currently stands at 3.79. In other words for every 100,000 Manulife Financial Corporation shares traded daily on the market, roughly 3790 shares are currently held short.

However Manulife Financial Corporation's short interest can also be evaluated against the total number of Manulife Financial Corporation shares, or, against the total number of tradable Manulife Financial Corporation shares (the shares that aren't held by "insiders" or major long-term shareholders – also known as the "float"). In this case Manulife Financial Corporation's short interest could be expressed as 0% of the outstanding shares (for every 100,000 Manulife Financial Corporation shares in existence, roughly 0 shares are currently held short) or 0% of the tradable shares (for every 100,000 tradable Manulife Financial Corporation shares, roughly 0 shares are currently held short).

Such a low SIR usually points to an optimistic outlook for the share price, with fewer people currently willing to bet against Manulife Financial Corporation.

Find out more about how you can short Manulife Financial Corporation stock.

Manulife Financial Corporation's environmental, social and governance track record

Environmental, social and governance (known as ESG) criteria are a set of three factors used to measure the sustainability and social impact of companies like Manulife Financial Corporation.

When it comes to ESG scores, lower is better, and lower scores are generally associated with lower risk for would-be investors.

Manulife Financial Corporation's total ESG risk score

Total ESG risk: 23.85

Socially conscious investors use ESG scores to screen how an investment aligns with their worldview, and Manulife Financial Corporation's overall score of 23.85 (as at 01/01/2019) is pretty good – landing it in it in the 24th percentile of companies rated in the same sector.

ESG scores are increasingly used to estimate the level of risk a company like Manulife Financial Corporation is exposed to within the areas of "environmental" (carbon footprint, resource use etc.), "social" (health and safety, human rights etc.), and "governance" (anti-corruption, tax transparency etc.).

Manulife Financial Corporation's environmental score

Environmental score: 6.74/100

Manulife Financial Corporation's environmental score of 6.74 puts it squarely in the 7th percentile of companies rated in the same sector. This could suggest that Manulife Financial Corporation is a leader in its sector terms of its environmental impact, and exposed to a lower level of risk.

Manulife Financial Corporation's social score

Social score: 12.54/100

Manulife Financial Corporation's social score of 12.54 puts it squarely in the 7th percentile of companies rated in the same sector. This could suggest that Manulife Financial Corporation is a leader in its sector when it comes to taking good care of its workforce and the communities it impacts.

Manulife Financial Corporation's governance score

Governance score: 13.57/100

Manulife Financial Corporation's governance score puts it squarely in the 7th percentile of companies rated in the same sector. That could suggest that Manulife Financial Corporation is a leader in its sector when it comes to responsible management and strategy, and exposed to a lower level of risk.

Manulife Financial Corporation's controversy score

Controversy score: 1/5

ESG scores also evaluate any incidences of controversy that a company has been involved in. Manulife Financial Corporation scored a 1 out of 5 for controversy – the highest score possible, reflecting that Manulife Financial Corporation has managed to keep its nose clean.

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) summary

Manulife Financial Corporation was last rated for ESG on: 2019-01-01.

Total ESG score	23.85
Total ESG percentile	24
Environmental score	6.74
Environmental score percentile	7
Social score	12.54
Social score percentile	7
Governance score	13.57
Governance score percentile	7
Level of controversy	1

Manulife Financial Corporation share dividends

Dividend payout ratio: 30.45% of net profits

Recently Manulife Financial Corporation has paid out, on average, around 30.45% of net profits as dividends. That has enabled analysts to estimate a "forward annual dividend yield" of 5.16% of the current stock value. This means that over a year, based on recent payouts (which are sadly no guarantee of future payouts), Manulife Financial Corporation shareholders could enjoy a 5.16% return on their shares, in the form of dividend payments. In Manulife Financial Corporation's case, that would currently equate to about $0.86 per share.

While Manulife Financial Corporation's payout ratio might seem fairly standard, it's worth remembering that Manulife Financial Corporation may be investing much of the rest of its net profits in future growth.

Manulife Financial Corporation's most recent dividend payout was on 21 December 2020. The latest dividend was paid out to all shareholders who bought their shares by 20 November 2020 (the "ex-dividend date").

Have Manulife Financial Corporation's shares ever split?

Manulife Financial Corporation's shares were split on a 2:1 basis on 5 June 2006. So if you had owned 1 share the day before before the split, the next day you'd have owned 2 shares. This wouldn't directly have changed the overall worth of your Manulife Financial Corporation shares – just the quantity. However, indirectly, the new 50% lower share price could have impacted the market appetite for Manulife Financial Corporation shares which in turn could have impacted Manulife Financial Corporation's share price.

Manulife Financial Corporation share price volatility

Over the last 12 months, Manulife Financial Corporation's shares have ranged in value from as little as $8.244 up to $20.0846. A popular way to gauge a stock's volatility is its "beta".

Beta is a measure of a share's volatility in relation to the market. The market (NYSE average) beta is 1, while Manulife Financial Corporation's is 1.1465. This would suggest that Manulife Financial Corporation's shares are a little bit more volatile than the average for this exchange and represent, relatively-speaking, a slightly higher risk (but potentially also market-beating returns).

Manulife Financial Corporation overview

Manulife Financial Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides financial advice, insurance, and wealth and asset management solutions for individuals, groups, and institutions in Asia, Canada, the United States, and internationally. The company offers individual life, and individual and group long-term care insurance; and guaranteed and partially guaranteed annuity products through insurance agents, brokers, banks, financial planners, and direct marketing. It also provides mutual funds and exchange-traded funds, group retirement and savings products, and institutional asset management services through agents and brokers affiliated with the company, securities brokerage firms, financial advisors, pension plan consultants, and banks; and banking products, such as deposit and credit products to Canadian customers. In addition, the company is involved in property and casualty insurance and reinsurance businesses; and run-off reinsurance operations, including variable annuities, and accident and health. Further, it manages timberland and agricultural portfolios; and engages in insurance agency, portfolio and mutual fund management, mutual fund dealer, life and financial reinsurance, and mutual funds marketing businesses. Additionally, the company holds and manages oil and gas properties; holds oil and gas royalties, and foreign bonds and equities; and provides investment management, counseling, advisory, and dealer services. Manulife Financial Corporation was founded in 1887 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.

Frequently asked questions

• What percentage of Manulife Financial Corporation is owned by insiders or institutions?

  Currently 0.014% of Manulife Financial Corporation shares are held by insiders and 56.977% by institutions.

• How many people work for Manulife Financial Corporation?

  Latest data suggests 35,000 work at Manulife Financial Corporation.

• When does the fiscal year end for Manulife Financial Corporation?

  Manulife Financial Corporation's fiscal year ends in December.

• Where is Manulife Financial Corporation based?

  Manulife Financial Corporation's address is: 200 Bloor Street East, Toronto, ON, Canada, M4W 1E5

• What is Manulife Financial Corporation's ISIN number?

  Manulife Financial Corporation's international securities identification number is: CA56501R1064

• What is Manulife Financial Corporation's CUSIP number?

  Manulife Financial Corporation's Committee on Uniform Securities Identification Procedures number is: 56501R106