Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) Hits New 1-Year Low – Here’s Why

Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO)’s stock price hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Thursday. The stock traded as low as C$22.35 and last traded at C$92.26, with a volume of 1409883 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at C$92.82.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on GWO shares. Scotiabank lifted their price target on Great-West Lifeco from C$95.00 to C$100.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce upped their price objective on Great-West Lifeco from C$95.00 to C$97.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. National Bank Financial raised their price objective on Great-West Lifeco from C$93.00 to C$95.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Great-West Lifeco from C$84.00 to C$107.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Great-West Lifeco from C$86.00 to C$87.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. One 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Great-West Lifeco has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of C$93.27.

Great-West Lifeco Trading Up 1.2%

The company has a market cap of C$83.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.29, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a current ratio of 6.07, a quick ratio of 22.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 28.63. The business’s 50 day moving average price is C$91.57 and its 200-day moving average price is C$81.96.

Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The company reported C$1.42 EPS for the quarter. The business had revenue of C$8.35 billion for the quarter. Great-West Lifeco had a net margin of 12.49% and a return on equity of 15.48%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Great-West Lifeco Inc. will post 4.4525194 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Great-West Lifeco Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 29th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 1st. Great-West Lifeco’s payout ratio is currently 52.89%.

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.