Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) Shares Pass Above 200 Day Moving Average – Should You Sell?

Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO)’s stock price crossed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Thursday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of C$60.08 and traded as high as C$61.51. Great-West Lifeco shares last traded at C$61.04, with a volume of 3,514,003 shares traded.

Great-West Lifeco News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Great-West Lifeco this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Jefferies upgraded GWO from “hold” to “buy” and raised its price target to C$70 (from C$67), signaling stronger analyst conviction and a meaningful upside case for the stock. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Empower (GWL’s U.S. retirement/wealth business) reported record earnings of $1.1 billion, highlighting accelerating workplace and wealth results — a direct earnings and cash-flow tailwind for Great‑West Lifeco. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Great‑West declared preferred-share dividends for two series (5YR RATE PFD‑N: CAD 0.2556; PFD 1st Ser I: CAD 0.2812). Routine preferred dividends support income-oriented investors and signal steady capital allocation for those securities. Read More. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Royal Bank of Canada raised its price target to C$64 (from C$60) while keeping a “sector perform” stance — a modestly bullish tweak that reduces downside risk in some analysts’ models. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Consensus analyst coverage sits around a “Moderate Buy,” reflecting broadly constructive but not unanimous analyst views — useful context for sentiment but not a catalyst by itself. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: BMO Capital Markets trimmed its price target to C$66 from C$68 and kept a “market perform” rating, a small negative signal that slightly lowers one analyst’s upside estimate. Read More.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on GWO. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Great-West Lifeco from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from C$67.00 to C$70.00 in a research note on Friday. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on Great-West Lifeco from C$60.00 to C$64.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday. National Bank Financial boosted their target price on Great-West Lifeco from C$58.00 to C$59.00 in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Great-West Lifeco from C$68.00 to C$66.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price objective on Great-West Lifeco from C$68.00 to C$70.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of C$67.22.

Great-West Lifeco Stock Performance

The company has a 50-day moving average price of C$65.42 and a 200-day moving average price of C$60.15. The firm has a market capitalization of C$56.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.53.

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

Great-West Lifeco Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 31st were paid 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 3.9%. Great-West Lifeco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 55.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Great-West Lifeco news, Director Edmund Francis Murphy sold 94,532 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately C$317,131.16. This represents a 95.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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.