Scotiabank Increases Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) Price Target to C$70.00

Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) had its price objective raised by investment analysts at Scotiabank from C$68.00 to C$70.00 in a report released on Thursday,BayStreet.CA reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the stock. Scotiabank’s target price indicates a potential upside of 13.77% from the company’s current price.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce boosted their price objective on Great-West Lifeco from C$67.00 to C$73.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Barclays boosted their price target on Great-West Lifeco from C$59.00 to C$70.00 in a report on Friday, January 9th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$60.00 to C$66.00 in a research note on Monday, November 10th. National Bankshares upped their target price on Great-West Lifeco from C$58.00 to C$59.00 in a report on Thursday, November 6th. Finally, Desjardins boosted their target price on Great-West Lifeco from C$55.00 to C$60.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of C$66.44.

Great-West Lifeco Price Performance

GWO stock opened at C$61.53 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of C$65.71 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of C$59.87. Great-West Lifeco has a 1-year low of C$49.54 and a 1-year high of C$68.56. The company has a market capitalization of C$55.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.28, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.53.

Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported C$1.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The firm had revenue of C$8.21 billion for the quarter. Great-West Lifeco had a return on equity of 14.81% and a net margin of 16.06%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Great-West Lifeco will post 4.4525194 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Great-West Lifeco

In other Great-West Lifeco news, Director Edmund Francis Murphy sold 94,532 shares of Great-West Lifeco stock in a transaction on Monday, November 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$64.51, for a total value of C$6,098,259.32. Following the sale, the director owned 4,916 shares in the company, valued at C$317,131.16. The trade was a 95.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 70.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.