Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS Sells 1,704 Shares of Globe Life Inc. (NYSE:GL)

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS trimmed its position in shares of Globe Life Inc. (NYSE:GL) by 8.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,849 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,704 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS’s holdings in Globe Life were worth $1,991,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of GL. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Globe Life by 4.4% in the third quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 11,060 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,171,000 after acquiring an additional 471 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its holdings in Globe Life by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 3,524 shares of the company’s stock worth $373,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Globe Life by 7.5% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 809,623 shares of the company’s stock worth $85,747,000 after purchasing an additional 56,673 shares during the period. Raymond James Trust N.A. boosted its stake in shares of Globe Life by 51.2% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 4,587 shares of the company’s stock valued at $486,000 after purchasing an additional 1,554 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Globe Life by 283.7% during the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 34,540 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,658,000 after buying an additional 25,539 shares during the period. 81.61% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Globe Life from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $132.00 to $143.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Globe Life from $125.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Globe Life from $137.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Globe Life from $107.00 to $114.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Globe Life from $126.00 to $141.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $135.60.

Globe Life Stock Up 2.3 %

GL opened at $129.79 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.86 and a beta of 0.77. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $122.87 and a 200-day moving average price of $113.21. Globe Life Inc. has a twelve month low of $38.95 and a twelve month high of $131.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 0.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50.

Globe Life (NYSE:GL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $3.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.12 by $0.02. Globe Life had a net margin of 18.53% and a return on equity of 22.32%. Equities research analysts forecast that Globe Life Inc. will post 13.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Globe Life Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a $0.27 dividend. This is an increase from Globe Life’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.83%. Globe Life’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.04%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Frank M. Svoboda sold 13,448 shares of Globe Life stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.56, for a total transaction of $1,513,706.88. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 18,948 shares in the company, valued at $2,132,786.88. This trade represents a 41.51 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mark A. Blinn sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.23, for a total value of $339,690.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 5,122 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $579,964.06. This trade represents a 36.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 61,338 shares of company stock valued at $7,239,630. Insiders own 1.51% of the company’s stock.

About Globe Life

Globe Life Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides various life and supplemental health insurance products, and annuities to lower middle- and middle-income families in the United States. The company operates in four segments: Life Insurance, Supplemental Health Insurance, Annuities, and Investments.