Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO) have been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the twelve brokerages that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given 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$93.27.

Several research firms have recently commented on GWO. National Bank Financial raised their price objective on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$93.00 to C$95.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. TD upped their target price on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$98.00 to C$106.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$90.00 to C$92.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Desjardins raised their price target on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$93.00 to C$95.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Scotia boosted their price target 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 note on Friday, May 8th.

Great-West Lifeco Price Performance

GWO opened at C$91.53 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is C$89.81 and its 200 day moving average price is C$75.94. Great-West Lifeco has a 12-month low of C$52.51 and a 12-month high of C$94.10. The company has a current ratio of 6.07, a quick ratio of 22.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 28.63. The firm has a market cap of C$81.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.91, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.68.

Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The company reported C$1.42 earnings per share for the quarter. The company had revenue of C$8.35 billion during the quarter. Great-West Lifeco had a return on equity of 15.48% and a net margin of 12.49%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Great-West Lifeco will post 4.4525194 earnings per share for the current year.

Great-West Lifeco Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th were paid a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 2nd. Great-West Lifeco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.89%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Great-West Lifeco news, insider Jean-Francois Poulin sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$89.55, for a total transaction of C$1,791,000.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 160 shares in the company, valued at C$14,328. This represents a 99.21% decrease in their position. Also, Director Edmund Francis Murphy sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$86.20, for a total value of C$3,448,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 8,784 shares in the company, valued at C$757,180.80. This represents a 81.99% decrease in their position. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 79,800 shares of company stock valued at $6,814,486. 70.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.