iA Financial (TSE:IAG) Hits New 1-Year High Following Dividend Announcement

iA Financial Co. Inc. (TSE:IAG)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high on Wednesday after the company announced a dividend. The company traded as high as C$133.72 and last traded at C$132.08, with a volume of 455627 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at C$115.01.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be paid a $0.90 dividend. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.76%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. This is a boost from iA Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. iA Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.91%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on IAG shares. TD Securities boosted their price target on shares of iA Financial from C$132.00 to C$135.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Cibc World Mkts upgraded iA Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada cut iA Financial from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and raised their price target for the company from C$105.00 to C$137.00 in a report on Thursday. Scotiabank upped their price objective on iA Financial from C$126.00 to C$143.00 in a report on Thursday. Finally, National Bankshares raised their target price on iA Financial from C$118.00 to C$121.00 in a report on Wednesday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of C$128.50.

iA Financial Price Performance

The company has a market cap of C$12.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of C$111.83 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of C$97.04. The company has a quick ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 2.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 46.39.

iA Financial (TSE:IAG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported C$2.75 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of C$2.58 by C$0.17. iA Financial had a net margin of 9.02% and a return on equity of 10.51%. The firm had revenue of C$1.64 billion for the quarter. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that iA Financial Co. Inc. will post 11.6187564 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About iA Financial

iA Financial Corporation Inc, provides insurance and wealth management services in Canada and the United States. The company operates through Insurance, Canada; Wealth Management; Investment; and US Operations segments. The company provides health, auto, home, and creditor insurance products; replacement insurance products and warranties; extended warranties and other ancillary products for dealer services; specialized products for special markets; and life insurance products and extended warranties relating to dealer services.