The Globe and Mail reports in its Friday, Feb. 6, edition that Scotia Capital analyst Mike Rizvanovic gave his Manulife Financial share target a $2 boost to $55. The Globe's David Leeder writes in the Eye On Equities column that Mr. Rizvanovic continues to rate Manulife "sector outperform." Analysts on average target the shares at $56.93. Mr. Rizvanovic says in a note: "We continue to have a constructive view on the large Canadian lifecos heading into Q4 earnings season as we expect the group to report another good set of results, albeit with modest EPS declines from the prior quarter, which for some was aided by lower-than-expected credit losses and slightly elevated insurance experience gains. We see strong upside potential for the group over the medium-term, supported by solid regulatory capital levels, which we believe may accelerate the pace of share buybacks in the coming quarters. We have not made any changes to our ratings ahead of the quarter, although our target prices move up across-the-board as we use a slightly higher P/BV multiple to value the lifecos to reflect our increased confidence in the group's ROE trajectory."