Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) Sets New 12-Month High – Here’s Why

Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as C$82.00 and last traded at C$81.68, with a volume of 6085433 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at C$80.38.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Scotia boosted their price objective on shares of 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 boosted their price objective on shares of 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. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$70.00 to C$83.00 in a research report on Friday, May 1st. TD boosted their price objective on shares of 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. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$70.00 to C$73.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of C$77.18.

Great-West Lifeco Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of C$73.42 billion, a PE ratio of 17.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.59. 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’s fifty day simple moving average is C$72.79 and its 200-day simple moving average is C$67.49.

Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported C$1.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The company had revenue of C$8.37 billion for the quarter. Great-West Lifeco had a net margin of 12.86% and a return on equity of 15.17%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Great-West Lifeco Inc. will post 4.4525194 earnings per share for the current year.

Great-West Lifeco Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be issued a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 2nd. Great-West Lifeco’s dividend payout ratio is 53.76%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Great-West Lifeco

In other Great-West Lifeco news, insider Jean-Francois Poulin sold 19,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 160 shares in the company, valued at approximately C$12,731.20. This represents a 99.20% decrease in their position. Also, Director Mei Dong sold 39,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$76.33, for a total transaction of C$3,007,402.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 2,721 shares in the company, valued at approximately C$207,693.93. This trade represents a 93.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 105,613 shares of company stock worth $7,528,257. Corporate insiders own 70.70% of the company’s stock.

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. 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.