Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) Hits New 12-Month High – Time to Buy?

Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high on Monday . The stock traded as high as C$52.59 and last traded at C$52.48, with a volume of 5328044 shares. The stock had previously closed at C$52.09.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GWO has been the subject of a number of research reports. TD Securities upgraded shares of Great-West Lifeco from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from C$49.00 to C$53.00 in a report on Friday, February 7th. Desjardins raised their price objective on Great-West Lifeco from C$49.00 to C$53.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$59.00 to C$60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Cibc World Mkts raised shares of Great-West Lifeco from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Great-West Lifeco from C$52.00 to C$54.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of C$52.22.

Great-West Lifeco Trading Down 0.2 %

The business has a 50-day moving average of C$48.23 and a 200 day moving average of C$46.99. The firm has a market capitalization of C$48.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.84.

Great-West Lifeco Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were issued a dividend of $0.555 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $2.22 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.22%. Great-West Lifeco’s dividend payout ratio is 50.79%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Great-West Lifeco

In related news, Director Edmund Francis Murphy sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$52.31, for a total transaction of C$784,695.00. Also, Director Charles Donald Harvey Henaire sold 26,100 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$53.00, for a total value of C$1,383,300.00. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 60,062 shares of company stock worth $3,149,764. 70.70% of the stock is 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.