Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) Price Target Raised to C$56.00

Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) had its price objective boosted by equities research analysts at CIBC from C$55.00 to C$56.00 in a report released on Thursday,BayStreet.CA reports. CIBC’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 19.30% from the company’s current price.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on GWO. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Great-West Lifeco from C$44.00 to C$50.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Great-West Lifeco from C$47.00 to C$51.00 in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$42.00 to C$48.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$45.00 to C$46.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of C$47.88.

Great-West Lifeco Stock Performance

Shares of GWO stock traded up C$0.09 during trading on Thursday, reaching C$46.94. 32,898 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,272,322. The company has a market capitalization of C$43.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.79, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.84. Great-West Lifeco has a 1 year low of C$38.44 and a 1 year high of C$50.99. The company has a current ratio of 37.46, a quick ratio of 22.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 29.61. The firm’s 50-day moving average is C$47.59 and its 200 day moving average is C$45.69.

Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported C$1.14 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of C$1.08 by C$0.06. Great-West Lifeco had a return on equity of 13.21% and a net margin of 11.32%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.00 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Great-West Lifeco will post 4.4525194 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Charles Donald Harvey Henaire sold 26,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$49.50, for a total transaction of C$1,306,800.00. Also, Senior Officer David Martin Harney sold 562 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of C$47.55, for a total value of C$26,721.58. In the last quarter, insiders sold 174,613 shares of company stock valued at $8,697,880. Company insiders own 70.70% of the company’s stock.

About Great-West Lifeco

Great-West Lifeco Inc engages in the life and health insurance, retirement and investment services, asset management, and reinsurance businesses in Canada, the United States, and Europe. The company offers life, accidental death and dismemberment, disability, critical illness, health and dental protection, and creditor insurance products; and retirement and wealth savings, income and annuity products, and other specialty products to individuals, families, businesses, and organizations.