Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) Stock Passes Above Two Hundred Day Moving Average – What’s Next?

Shares of Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO) crossed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Monday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of C$47.74 and traded as high as C$52.78. Great-West Lifeco shares last traded at C$52.10, with a volume of 5,315,161 shares traded.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on GWO shares. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$59.00 to C$60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$45.00 to C$46.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Great-West Lifeco from C$51.00 to C$53.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. CIBC raised Great-West Lifeco from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from C$56.00 to C$60.00 in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Desjardins raised their price target on Great-West Lifeco from C$49.00 to C$53.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. One equities 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of C$52.22.

Great-West Lifeco Stock Up 0.0 %

The company has a market cap of C$47.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.70, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.84. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of C$49.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of C$47.85.

Great-West Lifeco Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $0.61 dividend. This is a positive change from Great-West Lifeco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.56. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.77%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. Great-West Lifeco’s payout ratio is 50.79%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Great-West Lifeco news, Director Charles Donald Harvey Henaire sold 26,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$53.00, for a total value of C$1,383,300.00. Also, Senior Officer David Martin Harney sold 562 shares of Great-West Lifeco stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of C$47.55, for a total value of C$26,721.58. Insiders sold 69,362 shares of company stock valued at $3,634,696 over the last 90 days. 70.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.