Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) Stock Passes Above 200-Day Moving Average – What’s Next?

Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO) crossed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Wednesday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of C$62.12 and traded as high as C$64.88. Great-West Lifeco shares last traded at C$64.74, with a volume of 1,020,598 shares trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on GWO. TD Securities upped their price objective on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$70.00 to C$73.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$60.00 to C$64.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce upped their price target on shares of 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 increased their price target on Great-West Lifeco from C$59.00 to C$70.00 in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Great-West Lifeco from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from C$67.00 to C$70.00 in a research note on Friday, February 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of C$67.22.

Great-West Lifeco Trading Up 1.5%

The firm has a market cap of C$58.73 billion, a PE ratio of 15.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of C$63.53 and a 200 day simple moving average of C$62.12. The company has a current ratio of 5.80, a quick ratio of 22.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 44.93.

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

Great-West Lifeco Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.67 per share. This is a boost from Great-West Lifeco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 3rd. Great-West Lifeco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.