Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) Hits New 52-Week High – Still a Buy?

Shares of Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as C$94.99 and last traded at C$94.52, with a volume of 61169 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at C$93.52.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on GWO shares. Scotiabank upped their price target on Great-West Lifeco from C$95.00 to C$100.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. National Bank Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$93.00 to C$95.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$77.00 to C$91.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce lifted their price target on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$95.00 to C$97.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$84.00 to C$107.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. One 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Great-West Lifeco currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of C$93.27.

Great-West Lifeco Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 22.18, a current ratio of 6.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 28.63. The company’s fifty day moving average price is C$91.46 and its two-hundred day moving average price is C$81.03. The company has a market cap of C$84.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.56, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.61.

Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 28th. The company reported C$1.42 EPS for the quarter. The business had revenue of C$8.35 billion for the quarter. Great-West Lifeco had a net margin of 12.49% and a return on equity of 15.48%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Great-West Lifeco Inc. will post 4.4525194 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Great-West Lifeco Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 29th will be paid a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 1st. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. Great-West Lifeco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.89%.

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.