Brokerages Set Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO) Price Target at C$66.44

Shares of Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO) have been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the ten analysts that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is C$67.22.

Several analysts have recently commented on GWO shares. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$60.00 to C$64.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce raised their price target on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$67.00 to C$73.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Great-West Lifeco from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from C$67.00 to C$70.00 in a report on Friday, February 13th. Scotiabank raised their target price on Great-West Lifeco from C$68.00 to C$70.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, National Bank Financial upped their price target on Great-West Lifeco from C$58.00 to C$59.00 in a research note on Thursday, November 6th.

Great-West Lifeco Price Performance

Shares of TSE:GWO opened at C$63.15 on Friday. Great-West Lifeco has a 1 year low of C$49.54 and a 1 year high of C$68.56. The business’s 50-day moving average is C$65.35 and its 200-day moving average is C$60.41. The company has a market capitalization of C$57.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.82, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.53.

Great-West Lifeco Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st were given a dividend of $0.61 per share. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 3rd. Great-West Lifeco’s dividend payout ratio is presently 57.28%.

Insider Transactions at Great-West Lifeco

In other Great-West Lifeco 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 transaction of C$6,098,259.32. Following the transaction, the director owned 4,916 shares in the company, 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.

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.