Desjardins Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) Stock

Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) had its price target boosted by equities researchers at Desjardins from C$71.00 to C$80.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday,BayStreet.CA reports. The brokerage presently has a “hold” rating on the stock. Desjardins’ price objective suggests a potential upside of 4.90% from the company’s current price.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on GWO. National Bank Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$65.00 to C$73.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday. Scotia raised their target price on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$78.00 to C$83.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$70.00 to C$73.00 in a research report on Thursday. TD increased their price objective on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$73.00 to C$80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$70.00 to C$76.00 in a research note on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of C$77.18.

Great-West Lifeco Stock Performance

GWO traded down C$0.10 during trading hours on Friday, hitting C$76.26. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 504,991 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,655,716. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of C$66.82 and a 200 day simple moving average of C$64.86. The company has a current ratio of 5.80, a quick ratio of 22.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 44.93. The firm has a market capitalization of C$69.12 billion, a PE ratio of 17.90, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.59. Great-West Lifeco has a fifty-two week low of C$49.71 and a fifty-two week high of C$77.04.

Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported C$1.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Great-West Lifeco had a return on equity of 13.98% and a net margin of 10.96%.The company had revenue of C$8.37 billion during the quarter. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Great-West Lifeco will post 4.4525194 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Great-West Lifeco

In related news, insider L.P. Great-West Lifeco U.S. Holdings sold 46,413 shares of Great-West Lifeco stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of C$63.46, for a total value of C$2,945,368.98. Company 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.