Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) Sets New 52-Week High on Analyst Upgrade

Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO) shares hit a new 52-week high on Thursday after TD raised their price target on the stock from C$73.00 to C$80.00. TD currently has a buy rating on the stock. Great-West Lifeco traded as high as C$75.39 and last traded at C$74.52, with a volume of 60591 shares. The stock had previously closed at C$72.86.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on GWO. TD Securities upped their price target on Great-West Lifeco from C$70.00 to C$73.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. Desjardins boosted their target price on Great-West Lifeco from C$68.00 to C$71.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 17th. Scotiabank raised their price target on Great-West Lifeco from C$68.00 to C$70.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Scotia upped their price target on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$71.00 to C$78.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$70.00 to C$83.00 in a research report on Friday, May 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six 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 an average target price of C$72.36.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Great-West Lifeco Stock Performance

The business’s 50-day simple moving average is C$66.57 and its 200 day simple moving average is C$64.73. The firm has a market cap of C$69.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 44.93, a quick ratio of 22.18 and a current ratio of 5.80.

Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported C$1.36 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$8.34 billion during the quarter. As a group, equities analysts predict that Great-West Lifeco Inc. will post 4.4525194 earnings per share for the current year.

Great-West Lifeco Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 31st were issued a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 3rd. This is a positive change from Great-West Lifeco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.5%. Great-West Lifeco’s payout ratio is 57.28%.

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.