Royal Bank Of Canada Analysts Give Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) a C$60.00 Price Target

Royal Bank Of Canada set a C$60.00 target price on Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) in a research report sent to investors on Monday,BayStreet.CA reports. The brokerage currently has a sector perform rating on the stock.

A number of other research analysts have also commented on the stock. CIBC raised their price objective on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$67.00 to C$73.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. National Bankshares lifted their price target on Great-West Lifeco from C$58.00 to C$59.00 in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. UBS Group raised Great-West Lifeco to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. TD Securities raised their target price on Great-West Lifeco from C$70.00 to C$73.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Great-West Lifeco from C$60.00 to C$66.00 in a report on Monday, November 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of C$64.33.

Great-West Lifeco Stock Performance

Shares of GWO opened at C$64.75 on Monday. Great-West Lifeco has a one year low of C$44.89 and a one year high of C$68.56. The stock’s fifty day moving average is C$65.74 and its 200-day moving average is C$58.94. The firm has a market capitalization of C$58.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.72.

Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported C$1.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The firm had revenue of C$8.21 billion during the quarter. Great-West Lifeco had a net margin of 16.06% and a return on equity of 14.81%. Analysts forecast that Great-West Lifeco will post 4.4525194 EPS for the current fiscal 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 paid a $0.61 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 3rd. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.8%. Great-West Lifeco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 55.34%.

Insider Transactions at Great-West Lifeco

In other Great-West Lifeco news, Director Edmund Francis Murphy sold 94,532 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$64.51, for a total transaction of C$6,098,259.32. Following the sale, the director owned 4,916 shares in the company, valued at approximately C$317,131.16. The trade was a 95.06% decrease in their position. Insiders own 70.70% of the company’s stock.

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.