Insider Selling: Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) Insider Sells C$1,575,486.00 in Stock

Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO) insider Jean-Francois Poulin sold 19,800 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of C$79.57, for a total value of C$1,575,486.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 160 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately C$12,731.20. This represents a 99.20% decrease in their position.

Great-West Lifeco Price Performance

TSE:GWO opened at C$79.60 on Thursday. Great-West Lifeco Inc. has a one year low of C$49.78 and a one year high of C$79.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 29.59, a quick ratio of 22.18 and a current ratio of 6.57. The stock has a market cap of C$71.48 billion, a PE ratio of 17.12, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.59. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of C$70.86 and a 200 day moving average price of C$66.72.

Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported C$1.37 EPS for the quarter. Great-West Lifeco had a return on equity of 15.17% and a net margin of 12.86%.The firm had revenue of C$8.37 billion during the quarter. Equities research analysts expect that Great-West Lifeco Inc. will post 4.4525194 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Great-West Lifeco Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 31st were given a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 3rd. This is a positive change from Great-West Lifeco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.4%. Great-West Lifeco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 53.76%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on GWO shares. Barclays increased their price objective on Great-West Lifeco from C$70.00 to C$73.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce increased their price objective on Great-West Lifeco from C$75.00 to C$81.00 in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Scotia increased their price objective on Great-West Lifeco from C$78.00 to C$83.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. National Bank Financial increased their price objective on Great-West Lifeco from C$65.00 to C$73.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, TD increased their price objective on Great-West Lifeco from C$73.00 to C$80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of C$77.18.

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.