Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) Given New C$95.00 Price Target at Scotiabank

Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) had its price target increased by Scotiabank from C$83.00 to C$95.00 in a report released on Wednesday,BayStreet.CA reports. They currently have a sector outperform rating on the stock.

GWO has been the subject of several other reports. Barclays increased their price objective on Great-West Lifeco from C$70.00 to C$73.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Desjardins increased their price target on Great-West Lifeco from C$71.00 to C$80.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. TD raised their price objective on Great-West Lifeco from C$73.00 to C$80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. National Bank Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$65.00 to C$73.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Scotia lifted their price objective on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$78.00 to C$83.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of C$80.73.

Great-West Lifeco Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of GWO stock opened at C$92.34 on Wednesday. Great-West Lifeco has a fifty-two week low of C$51.40 and a fifty-two week high of C$92.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 29.59, a quick ratio of 22.18 and a current ratio of 6.57. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of C$84.09 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of C$72.21. The company has a market cap of C$82.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.86, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.67.

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

Great-West Lifeco Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 30th were paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 2nd. Great-West Lifeco’s dividend payout ratio is presently 53.76%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Jean-Francois Poulin sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$89.55, for a total transaction of C$1,791,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 160 shares in the company, valued at C$14,328. The trade was a 99.21% decrease in their position. Also, Director Mei Dong sold 39,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$76.33, for a total value of C$3,007,402.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 2,721 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately C$207,693.93. The trade was a 93.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Insiders have sold a total of 119,200 shares of company stock worth $9,821,888 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 70.70% of the company’s stock.

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.