Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) Sets New 12-Month High – What’s Next?

Shares of Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO) hit a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as C$61.44 and last traded at C$61.39, with a volume of 91434 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at C$60.91.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on GWO shares. CIBC boosted their target price on Great-West Lifeco from C$65.00 to C$67.00 in a report on Friday, November 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$53.00 to C$60.00 in a research note on Monday. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$58.00 to C$59.00 in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. UBS Group raised shares of Great-West Lifeco to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$60.00 to C$66.00 in a research report on Monday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of C$62.11.

Great-West Lifeco Trading Down 0.1%

The stock’s 50 day moving average is C$57.30 and its 200 day moving average is C$54.00. The stock has a market capitalization of C$57.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.51, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.63.

Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported C$1.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The business had revenue of C$18.92 billion for the quarter. Great-West Lifeco had a return on equity of 14.81% and a net margin of 16.06%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Great-West Lifeco Inc. will post 4.4525194 EPS for the current year.

Great-West Lifeco Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 29th were paid a dividend of $0.61 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 29th. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.9%. Great-West Lifeco’s dividend payout ratio is currently 55.34%.

Great-West Lifeco announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, August 5th that allows the company to repurchase $0.00 in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.