Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Scotiabank Analyst Says

Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) had its price target increased by research analysts at Scotiabank from C$68.00 to C$70.00 in a report issued on Thursday,BayStreet.CA reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the stock. Scotiabank’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 11.46% from the company’s current price.

A number of other analysts have also commented on GWO. UBS Group upgraded Great-West Lifeco to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$60.00 to C$67.00 in a research note on Monday. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$59.00 to C$70.00 in a research report on Friday, January 9th. National Bankshares increased their price target on Great-West Lifeco from C$58.00 to C$59.00 in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. Finally, 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 report on Thursday, January 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of C$66.44.

Great-West Lifeco Price Performance

Shares of GWO stock traded down C$0.17 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching C$62.80. 1,428,810 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,109,632. Great-West Lifeco has a fifty-two week low of C$49.54 and a fifty-two week high of C$68.56. The stock’s fifty day moving average is C$65.82 and its two-hundred day moving average is C$59.78. The company has a market cap of C$56.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.53.

Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported C$1.33 earnings per share 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 during the quarter. On average, research analysts anticipate that Great-West Lifeco will post 4.4525194 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Edmund Francis Murphy sold 94,532 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the director owned 4,916 shares in the company, valued at C$317,131.16. This represents a 95.06% decrease in their position. 70.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.