Zacks Investment Research upgraded shares of Manulife Financial Corp. (MFC) from UNDERPERFORM to NEUTRAL on February 11, 2013, with a target price of $16.00.
We are upgrading our recommendation on the shares of Manulife Financial Corp. to Neutral from Underperform, on the back of strong fourth quarter earnings. Earnings growth came on the back of increased fee income on higher funds under management and significant improvement in new businesses. We expect the company to continue to perform favorably going forward. Manulife has a solid market position in the global markets, and has effectively reduced exposure to potential equity markets as well as interest rate risks. It has also revised product focus on less capital intensive lines of business while maintaining adequate regulatory risk-adjusted capitalization. In addition, Manulife has successfully maintained significant scale in core business lines and has seen growing assets under management. However, the persistently low interest rate environment will continue to be a headwind.
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