Financial services company Manulife Financial Corp. (TSE:MFC) (NYSE:MFC) plans to focus more on its investment business and could eliminate around 50 jobs in the U.S. and Canada as part of the plan. Affected jobs will be from a few of its real estate operations, which will be outsourced.
This does not, however, amount to a total employment cut. Manulife is outsourcing its real estate activities to Jones Lang LaSalle, which will place the majority of its workers in similar roles. The teams will move to Jones Lang in March.
The financial services company is still reportedly on track to hire more workers.
Is MFC a Buy?
Wall Street is cautious about MFC stock, with a Hold consensus rating, based on one Buy and four Holds. The average price target on the stock is C$25.30, which indicates a 6% forward-12-month upside.
Moreover, the current price of the MFC stock is only 6.3 times its trailing 12-month earnings, which is lower than its 5-year average P/E of 11.19X. This makes the stock reasonably priced presently.
