Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) Share Price Crosses Above 200-Day Moving Average – Should You Sell?

Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO) passed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Thursday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of C$57.33 and traded as high as C$67.88. Great-West Lifeco shares last traded at C$67.69, with a volume of 520,863 shares changing hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GWO has been the subject of several research reports. TD Securities lifted 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 raised their price target on Great-West Lifeco from C$65.00 to C$67.00 in a research report on Friday, November 7th. National Bankshares upped their price objective on Great-West Lifeco from C$58.00 to C$59.00 in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on Great-West Lifeco from C$53.00 to C$60.00 in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of 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 issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of C$62.11.

Great-West Lifeco Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of C$61.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of C$63.80 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of C$57.33.

Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported C$1.33 EPS for the quarter. The business had revenue of C$8.21 billion during the quarter. Great-West Lifeco had a return on equity of 14.81% and a net margin of 16.06%. As a group, analysts expect that Great-West Lifeco Inc. will post 4.4525194 EPS for the current year.

Great-West Lifeco Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 31st were given a dividend of $0.61 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 3rd. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.6%. Great-West Lifeco’s dividend payout ratio is 55.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Great-West Lifeco

In other news, Director Edmund Francis Murphy sold 94,532 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$64.51, for a total transaction of C$6,098,259.32. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 4,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at C$317,131.16. The trade was a 95.06% decrease in their position. 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.