Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO) Receives C$52.22 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Shares of Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the ten brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is C$52.22.

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on GWO shares. CIBC upgraded shares of Great-West Lifeco from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from C$56.00 to C$60.00 in a research note on Friday, February 7th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$52.00 to C$54.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Desjardins increased their target price on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$49.00 to C$53.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Scotiabank lifted their target price on Great-West Lifeco from C$59.00 to C$60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Great-West Lifeco from C$51.00 to C$53.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Charles Donald Harvey Henaire sold 26,100 shares of Great-West Lifeco stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$53.00, for a total transaction of C$1,383,300.00. Also, Senior Officer David Martin Harney sold 562 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of C$47.55, for a total transaction of C$26,721.58. Insiders sold 69,362 shares of company stock worth $3,634,696 in the last 90 days. 70.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Great-West Lifeco Stock Performance

Great-West Lifeco stock opened at C$55.26 on Tuesday. Great-West Lifeco has a 52 week low of C$38.44 and a 52 week high of C$55.32. The firm has a market capitalization of C$51.45 billion, a PE ratio of 12.64, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.84. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is C$51.07 and its 200-day simple moving average is C$48.63.

Great-West Lifeco Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $0.61 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. This is a boost from Great-West Lifeco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.56. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.42%. Great-West Lifeco’s dividend payout ratio is presently 50.79%.

Great-West Lifeco Company Profile

Great-West Lifeco is one of the three big Canadian life insurance firms. With just under half of the firm’s profit and revenue in Canada, Great-West also operates in the U.S. and Europe. In Canada, Great-West provides both individual and group insurance. In the United States, Great-West operates Putnam Investments and defined-contribution recordkeeping firm Empower Retirement.