Manulife cuts its risk

Article Excerpt

MANULIFE FINANCIAL CORP. $21.44 (Toronto symbol MFC; Shares o/s: 2.0 billion; Market cap: $42.9 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 4.7%; www.manulife.ca) is Canada’s largest life insurer. Manulife has entered into agreements with three reinsurers on $13 billion of its riskiest annuity and universal life policies in both the U.S. and Canada. Reinsurers assume some of the risk of policy payouts in exchange for a share of the premiums. Apart from lowering its overall risk level, these transactions are expected to free up over $1 billion of capital for Manulife over the next year. The company will use some of the newly available funds to raise its dividend by 13.6% with the December 2018 payment. The stock now yields 4.7%. Manulife has also received approval from the Toronto exchange to buy back up to 2% of its shares outstanding. It hasn’t committed to repurchase a specific number of shares, but it gives the company the flexibility to do so if it feels its stock is too…