Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) Price Target Raised to C$73.00

Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) had its price target raised by TD Securities from C$70.00 to C$73.00 in a research report report published on Wednesday,BayStreet.CA reports.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$60.00 to C$66.00 in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on Great-West Lifeco from C$53.00 to C$60.00 in a research report on Monday, November 10th. UBS Group raised Great-West Lifeco to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. CIBC raised their price target on Great-West Lifeco from C$67.00 to C$73.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Finally, Desjardins lifted their price target on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$55.00 to C$60.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of C$64.33.

Great-West Lifeco Stock Performance

Shares of GWO stock opened at C$66.75 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of C$60.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.49, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.72. Great-West Lifeco has a fifty-two week low of C$44.89 and a fifty-two week high of C$68.56. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of C$65.49 and a two-hundred day moving average price of C$58.57.

Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported C$1.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Great-West Lifeco had a net margin of 16.06% and a return on equity of 14.81%. The firm had revenue of C$8.21 billion for the quarter. As a group, equities analysts predict that Great-West Lifeco will post 4.4525194 earnings per share for the current year.

Great-West Lifeco Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st were issued a $0.61 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 3rd. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.7%. Great-West Lifeco’s dividend payout ratio is 55.34%.

Insider Activity at Great-West Lifeco

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