Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO) has received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven brokerages that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, four have given a buy recommendation and two have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is C$64.33.

GWO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Desjardins boosted their price target on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$55.00 to C$60.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. National Bankshares lifted their target price on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$58.00 to C$59.00 in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$60.00 to C$66.00 in a research report on Monday, November 10th. TD Securities increased their price target on Great-West Lifeco from C$70.00 to C$73.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Finally, CIBC lifted their price objective on Great-West Lifeco from C$67.00 to C$73.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 8th.

Insider Activity at Great-West Lifeco

In other news, Director Edmund Francis Murphy sold 94,532 shares of Great-West Lifeco stock in a transaction on Monday, November 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$64.51, for a total value of C$6,098,259.32. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 4,916 shares in the company, valued at C$317,131.16. The trade was a 95.06% decrease in their position. 70.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Great-West Lifeco Trading Down 0.1%

TSE GWO opened at C$64.52 on Monday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is C$65.81 and its two-hundred day moving average price is C$59.07. Great-West Lifeco has a 12 month low of C$44.89 and a 12 month high of C$68.56. The firm has a market capitalization of C$58.53 billion, a PE ratio of 14.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.72.

Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported C$1.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Great-West Lifeco had a return on equity of 14.81% and a net margin of 16.06%.The company had revenue of C$8.21 billion during the quarter. As a group, analysts forecast that Great-West Lifeco will post 4.4525194 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Great-West Lifeco Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st were issued a dividend of $0.61 per share. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 3rd. Great-West Lifeco’s dividend payout ratio is presently 55.34%.

About Great-West Lifeco

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. In 2020, Great-West announced it would acquire Personal Capital and MassMutual’s recordkeeping business. In Europe, Great-West offers life insurance, annuities, and reinsurance primarily in the U.K., Ireland, and Germany.