Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) Hits New 1-Year High – What’s Next?

Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO) hit a new 52-week high on Thursday . The company traded as high as C$77.32 and last traded at C$77.14, with a volume of 12432 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at C$76.03.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce upped their price objective on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$75.00 to C$81.00 in a research report on Friday, May 8th. TD Securities lifted their target price on Great-West Lifeco from C$70.00 to C$73.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. National Bank Financial boosted their target price on Great-West Lifeco from C$65.00 to C$73.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. TD increased their price target on Great-West Lifeco from C$73.00 to C$80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on Great-West Lifeco from C$64.00 to C$77.00 in a research report on Friday, May 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Great-West Lifeco presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of C$77.18.

Great-West Lifeco Stock Up 0.9%

The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is C$67.67 and its 200-day simple moving average is C$65.36. The company has a current ratio of 6.57, a quick ratio of 22.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 29.59. The stock has a market capitalization of C$69.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.59.

Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported C$1.37 earnings per share for the quarter. Great-West Lifeco had a return on equity of 15.17% and a net margin of 12.86%.The company had revenue of C$8.37 billion during the quarter. Equities analysts expect that Great-West Lifeco Inc. will post 4.4525194 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Great-West Lifeco Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st were paid a $0.67 dividend. This is a positive change from Great-West Lifeco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 3rd. Great-West Lifeco’s dividend payout ratio is 53.76%.

Insider Activity at Great-West Lifeco

In related news, Director Mei Dong sold 39,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$76.33, for a total value of C$3,007,402.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 2,721 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately C$207,693.93. This trade represents a 93.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Also, insider L.P. Great-West Lifeco U.S. Holdings sold 46,413 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of C$63.46, for a total transaction of C$2,945,368.98. 70.70% of the stock is owned by 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.