Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) Hits New 1-Year High – Time to Buy?

Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as C$64.40 and last traded at C$64.28, with a volume of 29343 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at C$64.14.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on GWO. UBS Group upgraded Great-West Lifeco to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. National Bankshares lifted their price target on Great-West Lifeco from C$58.00 to C$59.00 in a report on Thursday, November 6th. TD Securities boosted their price objective on Great-West Lifeco from C$66.00 to C$70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. CIBC upped their price objective on Great-West Lifeco from C$65.00 to C$67.00 in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Great-West Lifeco from C$60.00 to C$66.00 in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Great-West Lifeco presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of C$62.11.

Great-West Lifeco Stock Performance

The stock’s 50 day moving average is C$58.31 and its 200 day moving average is C$54.47. The company has a market capitalization of C$59.36 billion, a PE ratio of 14.97, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.63.

Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported C$1.25 earnings per share for the quarter. The business had revenue of C$18.92 billion during the quarter. Great-West Lifeco had a net margin of 16.06% and a return on equity of 14.81%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Great-West Lifeco Inc. will post 4.4525194 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Great-West Lifeco Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Investors of record on Monday, September 29th were paid a dividend of $0.61 per share. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 29th. Great-West Lifeco’s payout ratio is presently 55.34%.

Great-West Lifeco announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Tuesday, August 5th that authorizes the company to buyback $0.00 in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.