Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) Stock Passes Above 200-Day Moving Average – Here’s What Happened

Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO) shares passed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Friday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of C$76.06 and traded as high as C$92.54. Great-West Lifeco shares last traded at C$92.48, with a volume of 1,224,311 shares traded.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GWO has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$95.00 to C$100.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Desjardins raised their target price on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$93.00 to C$95.00 in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Scotia raised their target price on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$78.00 to C$83.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$84.00 to C$107.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, National Bank Financial upped their price target on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$93.00 to C$95.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of C$93.27.

Great-West Lifeco Trading Up 1.0%

The stock has a market capitalization of C$82.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.11, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.68. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is C$90.02 and its 200-day moving average price is C$76.06. The company has a quick ratio of 22.18, a current ratio of 6.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 28.63.

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

Great-West Lifeco Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Great-West Lifeco

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