Brokerages Set Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO) Target Price at C$55.00

Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the ten ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have assigned a hold recommendation, three have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is C$54.89.

GWO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Desjardins increased their price objective on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$49.00 to C$53.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Barclays dropped their price objective on Great-West Lifeco from C$48.00 to C$47.00 in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Scotiabank increased their target price on Great-West Lifeco from C$59.00 to C$60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Great-West Lifeco from C$54.00 to C$59.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, CIBC raised shares of Great-West Lifeco from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from C$56.00 to C$60.00 in a research report on Friday, February 7th.

Great-West Lifeco Price Performance

Shares of GWO stock opened at C$52.78 on Friday. Great-West Lifeco has a 1-year low of C$38.44 and a 1-year high of C$57.61. The firm has a market cap of C$49.14 billion, a PE ratio of 12.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a 50-day moving average of C$53.10 and a two-hundred day moving average of C$49.68.

Great-West Lifeco Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were given a dividend of $0.61 per share. This is a boost from Great-West Lifeco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.56. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. Great-West Lifeco’s payout ratio is 50.79%.

Insider Activity at Great-West Lifeco

In related news, Senior Officer Linda Kerrigan sold 8,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$51.64, for a total value of C$438,927.25. Also, insider L.P. Great-West Lifeco U.S. Holdings sold 75,457 shares of Great-West Lifeco stock in a transaction on Monday, March 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of C$53.44, for a total transaction of C$4,032,671.09. Insiders have sold 144,257 shares of company stock valued at $7,640,646 over the last quarter. 70.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.