Manulife Financial Q4 Earnings Beat Estimates, Dividend Raised

Manulife Financial Corporation MFC delivered fourth-quarter 2024 core earnings of 74 cents per share, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 10.4%. The bottom line improved 8.8% year over year. See the Zacks Earnings Calendar to stay ahead of market-making news.Core earnings of $1.4 billion (C$1.9 billion) were up 6% year over year. The results reflected strong business growth led by Global WAM, Canada and Asia.New business value (NBV) in the reported quarter was $601 million (C$842 million), up 31% year over year, attributable to higher sales volumes in Asia, Canada and U.S. divisions. New business contractual service margin (“CSM”) of $60 million (C$842 million) rose 32% year over year.Annualized premium equivalent (APE) sales increased 42% year over year, attributable to higher sales in Asia and the U.S. division.Wealth and asset management assets under management and administration were $705.6 billion (C$1015 billion), up 21% year over year. The Wealth and Asset Management business generated net inflows of $0.8 billion (C$1.2 billion) against net outflows of $1.3 billion in the year-ago quarter, driven by continued strong retail net flows across all geographies. Manulife Financial Corp Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise Manulife Financial Corp price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Manulife Financial Corp QuoteCore return on equity, measuring the company’s profitability, expanded 50 basis points year over year to 16.4%. Life Insurance Capital Adequacy Test ratio was 137% as of Dec. 31, 2024, which remained unchanged from Dec. 31, 2023. Adjusted book value per common share was $37.02, up 15% year over year.Segmental PerformanceGlobal Wealth and Asset Management’s core earnings came in at $343 million (C$481 million), up 34% year over year, primarily driven by higher net fee income from favorable market impacts and positive net flows.Asia division’s core earnings totaled $341 million (C$477 million), up 16% year over year, reflecting continued business growth momentum and impacts from the annual updates to actuarial methods and assumptions. Asia generated 63%, 38% and 37% year-over-year growth in APE sales, new business CSM and NBV, respectively, driven by broad-based growth across Asia.Manulife Financial’s Canada division core earnings of $278 million (C$390 million) were up 11% year over year, driven by a more favorable insurance experience overall and business growth in Group Insurance.APE sales and NBV were up 4% and 21%, respectively, while new business CSM increased 66%, reflecting strong sales growth in participating life insurance and segregated fund products. Lower Group Insurance sales modestly impacted overall growth in APE sales and NBV. The U.S. division reported core earnings of $210 million (C$294 million), down 16% year over year on lower investment spreads, impacts from the previously completed reinsurance transaction and the annual review of actuarial methods and assumptions. APE sales and NBV increased 7% and 17%, respectively, driven by increased demand from affluent customers for accumulation insurance products. New business CSM decreased 5% due to change in product mix and the impact of interest rates, partially offset by higher sales volumes.Dividend UpdateThe board of directors approved a 10% hike in its quarterly dividend to 44 cents. Shareholders of record as of March 5 will receive the dividend on March 19.MFC’s Zacks RankMFC currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.Performance of Other InsurersVoya Financial, Inc. VOYA reported fourth-quarter 2024 adjusted operating earnings of $1.50 per share, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 111.3%. The bottom line decreased 23.8% year over year. The decline was due to higher loss ratios in Stop Loss in Health Solutions and lower spread-based assets in Wealth Solutions. It was partially offset by growth in fee-based revenues in Wealth Solutions and Investment Management, as well as higher alternative investment income.Adjusted operating revenues amounted to $1.9 billion, which increased 12.5% year over year.  As of Dec. 31, 2024, VOYA’s assets under management and assets under administration and advisement totaled $893.5 million.Unum Group’s UNM fourth-quarter 2024 operating net income of $2.03 per share missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 4.7%. The bottom line increased 13.4% year over year. Total operating revenues of Unum Group were $3.2 billion, up 2.5% year over year, driven by higher premium income, other income and improved net investment income. The top line missed the consensus estimate by 1.5%.Premium increased 3.1% from the prior-year quarter to $2.6 billion, which matched the Zacks Consensus Estimate. UNM expects after-tax adjusted operating income per share to grow 8-12% in 2025. Core operations premium growth is expected between 4% and 7%.Lincoln National Corporation LNC reported fourth-quarter 2024 adjusted earnings per share of $1.91, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 9.8%. The bottom line advanced nearly 30% year over year. Adjusted operating revenues were $4.6 billion, which more than doubled year over year. However, the top line fell short of the consensus mark by 1%.LNC’s estimated RBC ratio rose to more than 430% at fourth-quarter end. Insurance premiums totaled $1.59 billion, while the metric was recorded at a negative figure of $1.1 billion. However, the figure was lower than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.62 billion.5 Stocks Set to DoubleEach was handpicked by a Zacks expert as the #1 favorite stock to gain +100% or more in 2024. While not all picks can be winners, previous recommendations have soared +143.0%, +175.9%, +498.3% and +673.0%.Most of the stocks in this report are flying under Wall Street radar, which provides a great opportunity to get in on the ground floor.Today, See These 5 Potential Home Runs >>Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Lincoln National Corporation (LNC): Free Stock Analysis Report Unum Group (UNM): Free Stock Analysis Report Manulife Financial Corp (MFC): Free Stock Analysis Report Voya Financial, Inc. 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