Definity Financial (TSE:DFY) Cut to “Hold” at Scotiabank

Scotiabank downgraded shares of Definity Financial (TSE:DFY) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research analysts have also commented on DFY. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Definity Financial from C$53.00 to C$57.00 in a report on Monday. Cormark lowered Definity Financial from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Desjardins increased their price objective on Definity Financial from C$47.00 to C$52.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. TD Securities raised their target price on Definity Financial from C$58.00 to C$59.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, National Bankshares raised their target price on Definity Financial from C$62.00 to C$65.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of C$54.70.

Definity Financial Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of TSE DFY traded down C$0.68 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting C$55.60. 20,268 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 106,168. Definity Financial has a 1 year low of C$35.48 and a 1 year high of C$58.73. The stock has a market capitalization of C$6.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.00, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.04. The company has a quick ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 7.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.38. The business has a 50 day moving average of C$53.50 and a two-hundred day moving average of C$48.65.

Definity Financial (TSE:DFY) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported C$0.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of C($0.04) by C$0.17. The firm had revenue of C$1.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of C$1.10 billion. Definity Financial had a return on equity of 13.00% and a net margin of 9.60%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Definity Financial will post 3.1263962 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Definity Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $0.16 dividend. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Definity Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 19.34%.

About Definity Financial

Definity Financial Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, offers property and casualty insurance products in Canada. It provides personal insurance products, including auto, property, general and umbrella liability, and pet insurance products to individuals under the Economical, Sonnet, Family, Petsecure, and Peppermint brands; and commercial insurance products, which include fleet, commercial auto, property, liability, and specialty insurance products to businesses under the Definity Insurance and Economical brand name.