Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) Reaches New 52-Week High After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO) hit a new 52-week high on Monday after Desjardins raised their price target on the stock from C$68.00 to C$71.00. Desjardins currently has a hold rating on the stock. Great-West Lifeco traded as high as C$70.81 and last traded at C$70.70, with a volume of 144945 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at C$70.53.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on GWO. Barclays boosted their price objective on Great-West Lifeco from C$59.00 to C$70.00 in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on Great-West Lifeco from C$60.00 to C$64.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. TD Securities boosted their price objective on Great-West Lifeco from C$70.00 to C$73.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce boosted their price objective on Great-West Lifeco from C$67.00 to C$73.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their target price on Great-West Lifeco from C$68.00 to C$70.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Great-West Lifeco presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of C$68.44.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Great-West Lifeco news, insider L.P. Great-West Lifeco U.S. Holdings sold 46,413 shares of Great-West Lifeco stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of C$63.46, for a total transaction of C$2,945,368.98. Insiders own 70.70% of the company’s stock.

Great-West Lifeco Trading Up 0.3%

The business has a 50 day moving average of C$64.43 and a two-hundred day moving average of C$63.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 44.93, a quick ratio of 22.18 and a current ratio of 5.80. The firm has a market capitalization of C$64.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.60, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.57.

Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported C$1.36 earnings per share for the quarter. Great-West Lifeco had a return on equity of 13.98% and a net margin of 10.96%.The business had revenue of C$8.34 billion for the quarter. Equities analysts predict that Great-West Lifeco Inc. will post 4.4525194 EPS for the current year.

Great-West Lifeco Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 31st were paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. This is an increase from Great-West Lifeco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 3rd. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.8%. Great-West Lifeco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 57.28%.

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.