Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO) have been given an average rating of “Hold” by the ten analysts that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have issued a hold recommendation, three have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is C$55.56.

GWO has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada set a C$53.00 price objective on shares of Great-West Lifeco and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. National Bankshares cut their price target on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$53.00 to C$52.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Scotiabank increased their price target on Great-West Lifeco from C$59.00 to C$60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. TD Securities lifted their price objective on Great-West Lifeco from C$53.00 to C$62.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Great-West Lifeco from C$54.00 to C$59.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd.

Great-West Lifeco Stock Performance

Great-West Lifeco stock opened at C$51.73 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of C$48.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.84, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.84. Great-West Lifeco has a 52-week low of C$38.44 and a 52-week high of C$57.61. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of C$52.87 and a two-hundred day moving average price of C$50.35.

Great-West Lifeco Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st were paid a $0.61 dividend. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.72%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This is a boost from Great-West Lifeco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.56. Great-West Lifeco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.79%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider L.P. Great-West Lifeco U.S. Holdings sold 75,457 shares of Great-West Lifeco stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of C$53.44, for a total transaction of C$4,032,671.09. Also, Senior Officer Dervla Mary Tomlin sold 5,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of C$52.17, for a total transaction of C$271,292.84. Insiders sold a total of 152,757 shares of company stock worth $8,045,716 over the last quarter. 70.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.