Mei Dong Sells 39,400 Shares of Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) Stock

Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO) Director Mei Dong sold 39,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 11th. The stock was 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 owned 2,721 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately C$207,693.93. This represents a 93.54% decrease in their position.

Great-West Lifeco Price Performance

GWO stock traded up C$0.07 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching C$76.00. 196,338 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,644,746. The company has a fifty day moving average price of C$67.25 and a 200-day moving average price of C$65.12. Great-West Lifeco Inc. has a 52-week low of C$49.71 and a 52-week high of C$77.04. The company has a market capitalization of C$68.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.34, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 29.59, a current ratio of 6.57 and a quick ratio of 22.18.

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

Great-West Lifeco Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$70.00 to C$76.00 in a report on Friday. TD Securities boosted their target price on Great-West Lifeco from C$70.00 to C$73.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. National Bank Financial raised their price target on Great-West Lifeco from C$65.00 to C$73.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday. Scotia lifted their price target on Great-West Lifeco from C$78.00 to C$83.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Desjardins boosted their price objective on Great-West Lifeco from C$71.00 to C$80.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Great-West Lifeco currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of C$77.18.

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.