Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) Sets New 52-Week High – What’s Next?

Shares of Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as C$64.40 and last traded at C$64.28, with a volume of 29343 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at C$64.14.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GWO has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$59.00 to C$61.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 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 report on Monday, November 10th. CIBC raised their target price on Great-West Lifeco from C$65.00 to C$67.00 in a report on Friday, November 7th. National Bankshares boosted their price target on Great-West Lifeco from C$58.00 to C$59.00 in a report on Thursday, November 6th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Great-West Lifeco from C$60.00 to C$66.00 in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Great-West Lifeco currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of C$62.11.

Great-West Lifeco Stock Up 0.6%

The firm has a market capitalization of C$59.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.63. The company’s 50 day moving average is C$58.31 and its 200-day moving average is C$54.47.

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

Great-West Lifeco Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Investors of record on Monday, September 29th were issued a $0.61 dividend. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 29th. Great-West Lifeco’s dividend payout ratio is currently 55.34%.

Great-West Lifeco announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, August 5th that authorizes the company to repurchase $0.00 in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.