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Thursday, August 7, 2014

Manulife Financial surprises with dividend hike as profit triples, (NYSE: MFC), (TSE: MFC.TO)

Manulife Financial Corp unexpectedly hiked its dividend for the first time since the financial crisis on Thursday, as it reported quarterly profits that jumped on stronger financial markets but was just shy of analysts' expectations.Investors have awaited an improved dividend since Canada's largest insurer halved the payout in 2009 as it struggled to preserve capital amid plunging markets and unprofitable products.The company had hinted that a dividend hike was possible in 2015 at the earliest."We believe that this is a distinct positive and may come somewhat of a surprise to the market," Barclays Capital analyst John Aiken said in the note.

Manulife Financial Corporation (MFC) is a Canada-based financial services group with principal operations in Asia, Canada and the United States. Shares of MFC traded higher by 0.5% or $0.1/share to $20.22. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $16.16 and as high as $20.68. On average, 1310740 shares of MFC exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 145120.

Manulife Financial Corporation (MFC) is a Canada-based financial services group with principal operations in Asia, Canada and the United States. Shares of MFC traded higher by 0.55% or $0.12/share to $22.09. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $16.86 and as high as $22.53. On average, 2601850 shares of MFC.TO exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 394555.



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