Analysts Set Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO) Target Price at C$64.33

Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO) has been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the eleven analysts that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, four have given a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is C$64.33.

GWO has been the topic of a number of research reports. UBS Group upgraded Great-West Lifeco to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. TD Securities raised their target price on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$70.00 to C$73.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. National Bankshares lifted their target price on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$58.00 to C$59.00 in a report on Thursday, November 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a C$60.00 price target on shares of Great-West Lifeco and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$60.00 to C$66.00 in a research report on Monday, November 10th.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Edmund Francis Murphy sold 94,532 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$64.51, for a total transaction of C$6,098,259.32. Following the sale, the director owned 4,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at C$317,131.16. The trade was a 95.06% decrease in their position. 70.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Great-West Lifeco Price Performance

Shares of GWO opened at C$64.75 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of C$65.74 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of C$58.94. The stock has a market cap of C$58.74 billion, a PE ratio of 15.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.72. Great-West Lifeco has a 1-year low of C$44.89 and a 1-year high of C$68.56.

Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported C$1.33 earnings per share for the quarter. The firm had revenue of C$8.21 billion for the quarter. Great-West Lifeco had a net margin of 16.06% and a return on equity of 14.81%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Great-West Lifeco will post 4.4525194 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Great-West Lifeco Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 31st were paid a $0.61 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 3rd. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.8%. Great-West Lifeco’s payout ratio is 55.34%.

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. In 2020, Great-West announced it would acquire Personal Capital and MassMutual’s recordkeeping business. In Europe, Great-West offers life insurance, annuities, and reinsurance primarily in the U.K., Ireland, and Germany.