Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) Sets New 1-Year High – What’s Next?

Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as C$86.29 and last traded at C$85.94, with a volume of 1692394 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at C$85.30.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GWO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$70.00 to C$73.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce increased their price target on Great-West Lifeco from C$75.00 to C$81.00 in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Scotia lifted their price objective on Great-West Lifeco from C$78.00 to C$83.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. National Bank Financial upped their price objective on Great-West Lifeco from C$65.00 to C$73.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, TD raised their target price on Great-West Lifeco from C$73.00 to C$80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of C$77.18.

Great-West Lifeco Trading Up 0.8%

The company’s fifty day simple moving average is C$75.67 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is C$68.57. The company has a market capitalization of C$77.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a quick ratio of 22.18, a current ratio of 6.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 29.59.

Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported C$1.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The company had revenue of C$8.37 billion during the quarter. Great-West Lifeco had a net margin of 12.86% and a return on equity of 15.17%. Research analysts forecast that Great-West Lifeco Inc. will post 4.4525194 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Great-West Lifeco Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be issued a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 2nd. Great-West Lifeco’s dividend payout ratio is 53.76%.

Insider Transactions at Great-West Lifeco

In related news, insider L.P. Great-West Lifeco U.S. Holdings sold 46,413 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of C$63.46, for a total value of C$2,945,368.98. Also, Director Mei Dong sold 39,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$76.33, for a total value of C$3,007,402.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 2,721 shares of the company’s stock, valued at C$207,693.93. This represents a 93.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Insiders have sold a total of 105,613 shares of company stock valued at $7,528,257 over the last 90 days. 70.70% of the stock is owned by company 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. 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.