Desjardins Expects Increased Earnings for Great-West Lifeco

Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO) – Research analysts at Desjardins upped their FY2025 earnings estimates for Great-West Lifeco in a report issued on Thursday, November 6th. Desjardins analyst D. Young now expects that the company will post earnings of $4.95 per share for the year, up from their previous forecast of $4.85. Desjardins has a “Hold” rating and a $60.00 price objective on the stock. The consensus estimate for Great-West Lifeco’s current full-year earnings is $4.45 per share. Desjardins also issued estimates for Great-West Lifeco’s Q4 2025 earnings at $1.29 EPS, FY2026 earnings at $5.35 EPS and FY2027 earnings at $5.75 EPS.

A number of other research firms have also weighed in on GWO. TD Securities increased their price objective on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$66.00 to C$70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Scotiabank upped their target price on Great-West Lifeco from C$59.00 to C$61.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. UBS Group upgraded Great-West Lifeco to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Great-West Lifeco from C$58.00 to C$59.00 in a report on Thursday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Great-West Lifeco from C$55.00 to C$56.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of C$60.00.

Great-West Lifeco Trading Up 2.6%

Great-West Lifeco stock opened at C$60.88 on Friday. Great-West Lifeco has a 12-month low of C$44.89 and a 12-month high of C$61.39. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of C$56.64 and a 200-day moving average price of C$53.70. The firm has a market capitalization of C$56.30 billion, a PE ratio of 15.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.63.

Great-West Lifeco declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Tuesday, August 5th that permits the company to buyback $0.00 in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Great-West Lifeco Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 29th were issued a dividend of $0.61 per share. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 29th. Great-West Lifeco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 58.40%.

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.