Edmund Francis Murphy Sells 40,000 Shares of Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) Stock

Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO) Director Edmund Francis Murphy sold 40,000 shares of Great-West Lifeco stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$86.20, for a total transaction of C$3,448,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 8,784 shares in the company, valued at approximately C$757,180.80. This represents a 81.99% decrease in their position.

Great-West Lifeco Stock Up 1.1%

GWO opened at C$89.70 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 22.18, a current ratio of 6.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 29.59. The stock has a market cap of C$80.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.29, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.69. Great-West Lifeco Inc. has a twelve month low of C$49.78 and a twelve month high of C$90.31. The company’s 50-day moving average price is C$76.60 and its two-hundred day moving average price is C$68.91.

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

Great-West Lifeco Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be given a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 2nd. Great-West Lifeco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 53.76%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on GWO. National Bank Financial upped 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 research report on Friday, May 8th. Desjardins lifted 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, May 8th. Scotia boosted their price objective on Great-West Lifeco from C$78.00 to C$83.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. TD upped their price objective on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$73.00 to C$80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$70.00 to C$73.00 in a report on Thursday, May 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of C$77.18.

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.